Lawyers: Morris owes us $111,705.44

COEUR d’ALENE — Jeremy Morris could be on the hook for more than $100,000 in attorney fees, according to a motion filed in U.S. District Court.

In a recent ruling in Coeur d’Alene’s federal court, U.S. Judge B. Lynn Winmill awarded attorney fees to the homeowners association that Morris sued after it tried shutting down a Christmas carnival at his home in a Hayden subdivision.

Those fees come to $104,958.50 plus additional costs of $6,746.94, according to paperwork filed by Peter Smith and Tara Malek, the Coeur d’Alene attorneys representing the HOA.

A packet of invoices filed electronically Sunday itemizes the fees that accumulated since Morris set in motion a lawsuit based on incidents that started in 2015.

In an email to The Press on Monday, Morris said the jury’s initial decision should be honored and he plans to appeal the latest ruling.

“As an attorney as well as a citizen, I have the highest regard for our system that trusts a jury to impartially evaluate the facts and render a verdict,” Morris said. “Their decision should never have been set aside. I intend to ask the Ninth Circuit to review the decision to take this question away from a jury of my peers.”

The case started when the West Hayden Estates Addition homeowners association in 2015 told Morris to quit having a two-week Christmas shebang at his home that included live animals, 200,000 lights and more than 7,000 visitors bused in for the occasion.

The event was a disturbance to neighboring property owners and violated the CC&Rs, the association said.

Morris filed suit against the HOA based on Fair Housing Act complaints, accusing the homeowners association of religious discrimination. A jury ruled in favor of Morris last October, awarding him $75,000, but defense attorneys asked Winmill to review the jury’s decision.

Calling the jury’s conclusion erroneous, Winmill earlier this month overturned the verdict and ordered Morris to quit having Christmas galas at his Ferndale Drive home. Winmill agreed with the HOA that Morris’ program violated seven of the HOA’s CC&Rs. Calling the testimony of Morris “not credible,” Winmill said Morris’ interactions with neighbors “show that he was aggressively confrontational with those homeowners and routinely threatened them with litigation.”

Winmill also questioned Morris’ claims for compensation that included $60,000 in moving costs — if he moved — and for an undisclosed medical condition. Winmill said Morris “presented no evidence on what that condition is, or the extent to which it was aggravated.”