Hello gaura-ga,
I recall your previous question about Christmas displays, and hope
that I can assist you.
I have found one example of a successful control of a Christmas
display by a municipality. Moreover, I have found two other instances
where neighbors have successfully sued to stop a Christmas display.
In each of these cases, the town or the courts declared the display a
nuisance.
The first instance involved Robert George, a well-known "Santa" who
put up a year-round Christmas display at his house. "The annual
bumper-to-bumper procession of holiday sightseers got him in trouble
in suburban Glendale, where the city declared the three-bedroom house
a public nuisance and finally pressured him in November 1987 to end
his all-seasons display."
"Robert George, year-round 'presidential' Santa, dies", by The
Associated Press (7/4/98)
The Standard-Times
http://www.s-t.com/daily/07-98/07-04-98/zzzddobi.htm
I have not found other towns that have stopped a Christmas display.
Perhaps most towns facing this situation want to avoid the impression,
even if incorrect, that they are against Christmas. However, where
towns are reluctant to tread, neighbors might use the concept of
nuisance to control Christmas displays.
One case involved a large Christmas display put up by Jennings
Osborne. Osborne had "covered his mammoth suburban Little Rock estate
in red lights each Christmas since 1986. The display grew larger every
year until it became a major seasonal tourist attraction, drawing tens
of thousands of motorists to Little Rock's expensive Robinwood
subdivision."
"Osborne's angry neighbors filed suit, alleging his Christmas show was
a
'nuisance,' and two Arkansas courts agreed." In December 1994, the
Arkansas Supreme Court issued a cease-and-desist order against
Osborne, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.
"High Court Won't Hear Light Case", post by Song Weaver on
<bit.listserv.politics> (1994-12-23)
Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=01HKY2I1RUE0HSJ29Z%40DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU
A similar case occurred in Irvine, Scotland. David Rowlands had
created a display of "8,500 Christmas lights, several singing Santas,
figurines including Mary and Joseph, the Three Wise Men, a giant
plastic candy cane, a talking tree, reindeer and elves in and around
his house and garden ... [The] display was much visited by members of
the public in their cars and by foot." But in 1999, "the neighbours
... obtained a court order allowing Mr Rowlands to switch on his
display in the afternoons only."
Then in December 2000, a sheriff issued a judgment that barred the
display until after the Christmas season. "According to press
reports, Sheriff Smith wrote in his judgment ...: 'The defender's
conduct amounts to nuisance. The evidence of the pursuers was that
each of them had chosen to buy a house there because of the quietness,
seclusion and freedom of traffic and its associated noise. It is
clear the scheme is meant to be traffic free but the witnesses
unanimously estimated the number of cars at peak periods at between 60
and 80 per hour. Some of the pursuers suffered damage to their grass
by people driving over it. It is a reasonable inference that these
people were coming to see the defender's display' (Scotsman, 14 Dec
2000)."
"Nuisance and the spirit of Christmas: its a wonderful life", by
Hector L MacQueen
Scots Law News
http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/sln/index.asp?page=93
Mr. Rowlands had indicated his intention to appeal; as of last
Christmas, his appeal had apparently not been successful:
"Justice?", post by ADSL576000kbps on <uk.local.ayrshire> (2001-12-27)
Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=b7PW7.22551%246D5.198022%40NewsReader
As I noted, the key principle here is that the Christmas display
should not create a nuisance. A city might conceivably act to
regulate Christmas displays under zoning ordinances, a housing code,
or some other method, but I suspect that the underlying rationale
would be that certain displays are a public or private nuisance.
The principle of nuisance is discussed in detail in the following
excerpt from a book on property law. This excerpt notes the example
of Christmas displays, at the beginning of the section entitled "The
Liberty to Use Property Versus Security from Harm". (Of course, if
you want to take legal action based on these or other principles, you
should consult a lawyer in your jurisdiction. Advice on Google
Answers is not professional legal advice.)
Google Cache of "Chapter 1: Paradoxes of Property", excerpt from
"Entitlement
The Paradoxes of Property", by Joseph William Singer
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:P6Q5F-FsCCQC:www.yale.edu/yup/chapters/080190chap.htm&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
I hope that this information is helpful.
- justaskscott-ga
I used various combinations of the following terms to search on Google
and Google Groups:
"christmas display"
"christmas displays"
"christmas lights"
nuisance
"public nuisance"
zoning
"housing code"
osborne
rowlands |
