Morris says fees due are excessive

COEUR d'ALENE — Jeremy Morris appealed his case to the Ninth Circuit and filed an objection to the amount he must pay defendants to cover their attorney fees.

Morris, whose favorable jury verdict was overturned earlier this year by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, filed an appeal Friday that will send his case to the Ninth Circuit for consideration.

As part of Winmill’s order, the Hayden property owner — who sued his HOA for trying to shut down a Christmas carnival in his West Hayden Estates subdivision — was ordered to pay attorney fees. Fees tallied by the defense amounted to more than $100,000, according to a motion filed in U.S. District Court.

Morris objected to the amount in a recent motion, arguing that the court’s order required him to pay only fees related to part of the case, and not the fees incurred in the entire case.

But defense attorneys argued that their work overlapped throughout the case.

“The Court should award a maximum of $10,154.50,” wrote Morris, who argued the $104,958.50 plus additional costs of $6,746.94, put forth by defense attorneys Peter Smith and Tara Malek, was beyond what the court had intended when it awarded fees to the HOA.

Morris’s case hearkens back to 2015, when the West Hayden Estates Addition homeowners association told Morris to quit having a massive Christmas carnival — featuring loud music, 7,000 visitors, live animals and 200,000 lights — at his north Hayden home.

Neighbors notified the HOA, which found the carnival violated its covenants, conditions and restrictions, resulting in a lawsuit. Morris, a practicing attorney, alleged Fair Housing Act complaints, accusing the homeowners association of religious discrimination.

A jury ruled in favor of Morris in October, awarding him $75,000, but defense attorneys asked Winmill to review the jury’s decision. The judge found that Morris’s program violated seven of the HOA’s CC&Rs.

Calling Morris’s testimony “not credible,” Winmill said Morris routinely threatened his neighbors with lawsuits and that Morris was “aggressively confrontational.”

In addition, Winmill questioned Morris’s claims for compensation, and instead awarded the HOA attorney fees incurred during the counterclaim portion of the case.

In a motion supporting the amount they put forth — almost $112,000 — defense attorneys cited examples of how their evidence overlapped throughout the entire case.

“A perfect example of overlapping evidence is the January 2015 letter sent from the West Hayden HOA Board to the Plaintiffs addressing the Christmas program,” according to defense attorneys. “While this letter was the primary piece of evidence relied upon by the Plaintiffs’ claims, it was also critical to West Hayden HOA’s claims.”