“Not only am I no longer at risk of being fined for my skeletons, but the unconstitutional ordinance is now dead and buried,” plaintiff Alexis Luttrell said.
A Tennessee woman who was summoned to court over a large lawn ornament has settled her lawsuit with the city of Germantown.
According to The Commercial Appeal, the agreement was announced by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represented plaintiff Alexis Luttrell in her claim against the city. Attorneys say that, as part of the settlement, Germantown will pay Luttrell almost $25,000 in exchange for the dismissal of her lawsuit.
The lawsuit is the result of an unusual conflict between Luttrell and city officials.
Late last year, just before Halloween, Luttrell placed two large lawn ornaments in front of her house: a skeleton, and a skeleton dog. Instead of taking her decorations down after Halloween, Luttrell opted instead to dress them in Christmas-themed attire, leaving them in place through early December.
However, weeks before Christmas, Luttrell received a notice that her ornaments violated a section of city code prohibiting outdoor holiday decorations from being installed more than 45 days before the holiday for which the decorations are being displayed. It also requires that decorations be taken down within a “reasonable” period of time, typically not to exceed 30 days from the Holiday’s conclusion.
Attorneys for Luttrell argued that the citation had less to do with violations of city code than Germantown’s desire to dictate how residents can and cannot celebrate holidays. The lawsuit directly attacked the ornament rule in point, Ordinance 11-33, claiming that its language is unconstitutionally vague.
Filed in February in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, the lawsuit was settled within three months. The Commercial Appeal notes that David Goodman, an attorney for the city of Germantown, notified the city board that he had reviewed the ordinance and had concerns about its legality.
Shortly afterward, the city not only moved to dismiss the citation against Luttrell—it also repealed the holiday ordinance in its entirety.
“Germantown’s leaders deserve a lot of credit for quickly repealing its holiday ordinance after FIRE’s lawsuit,” said FIRE attorney Colin McDonell. “Instead of digging in and wasting time and taxpayer dollars defending an unconstitutional ordinance, they boned up on the First Amendment and did the right thing.”
For Luttrell, the settlement is a way of ensuring that she, and other Germantown residents, can showcase their holiday spirit without having to risk legal consequences.
“Not only am I no longer at risk of being fined for my skeletons, but the unconstitutional ordinance is now dead and buried,” Luttrell said. “Today is a victory for anyone who has ever been censored by a government official and chose to fight back.”
Sources
Germantown agrees to settlement in First Amendment lawsuit sparked by holiday decorations
‘I won my case’: Germantown settles holiday decor lawsuit
LAWSUIT: Tennessee town cites woman for using skeletons in holiday decorations
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