Town’s threats over skeleton lawn decor — with festive twist — have Tennessee woman suing
In a Memphis suburb, a resident is suing local officials, saying they want to force her to take down decorative skeletons she has displayed on her lawn since Halloween. They’re trying to take her to city court.
Now, Alexis Luttrell is bringing the issue to federal court.
Luttrell has been adding festive touches to her lawn skeletons at her home in Germantown, incorporating them into various seasonal displays. She dressed them for Election Day, Christmas and most recently redecorated them for Valentine’s Day.
She simply likes skeletons, explains a federal lawsuit she filed Feb. 12 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
“But Germantown officials believe that skeletons may only celebrate Halloween,” a complaint says.
City officials have threatened Luttrell with fines and a court order that would legally require her to take down her display, according to the complaint.
They say she’s defying Germantown’s Holiday Decorations Ordinance, which bans homeowners for displaying decorations more than 45 days before or 30 days past a designated holiday.
But this ban is unconstitutional, because it gives city officials the power to dictate how residents celebrate holidays — and the power to punish those who ignore the ordinance, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represents Luttrell.
Under the First Amendment, Germantown residents should have a right to decorate their yards and homes for holidays how they choose, according to the complaint.
“The First Amendment protects a wide range of expression, from waving a flag to painting a picture to displaying holiday decorations,” FIRE attorney Colin McDonell told McClatchy News in a statement on Feb. 13.
“Government officials can’t impose their own subjective beliefs about what expression appropriately celebrates a particular holiday.”
Germantown spokeswoman Jessica Comas declined McClatchy News’ request for comment Feb. 13. She said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
‘You don’t have to like my decorations’
After Luttrell arranged her skeletons in a political display for Election Day, a Germantown code officer visited her home on Dec. 6, leaving a notice that she was violating the city’s holiday ordinance, according to the lawsuit. The notice instructed her to take down her skeletons.
Eight other Germantown residents with skeleton decor were issued similar notices, requesting they remove their displays, Cameron Ross, the director of the city’s economic and community development, told TODAY.com.
He said five homeowners “immediately complied.”
After citations were issued to two homeowners, and a court summons was issued to a third, they took down their skeletons, according to Ross, TODAY.com reported.
Instead of taking hers down, Luttrell refreshed her skeletons for Christmas.
She dressed her human skeletal figure in a green and red tutu and placed a garland in its hand, which she affixed to a second figure, a skeletal dog, as a leash. She placed the skeletons in between an inflatable Santa Claus and Christmas tree.
Then, on Jan. 6, Germantown issued her a citation and summoned her to Germantown Municipal Court, according to the complaint.
“The resident in question has claimed the skeletons are Christmas decorations, but the City maintains they are Halloween-themed and fall outside the ordinance’s allowances,” Ross told TODAY.com about Luttrell. “Penalties will ultimately be determined by the City Prosecutor and Judge during the court hearing.”
Luttrell’s court date, which was set for Feb. 13, has been pushed back to March 13, McDonnell told McClatchy News.
If Luttrell “continues incorporating skeletons into non-Halloween holiday decorations, she risks additional citations, fines, and other penalties, including the seizure of her skeletons,” the complaint says.
Luttrell isn’t deterred by the threats of legal ramifications.
“You don’t have to like my decorations, but that doesn’t mean Germantown has the right to force me to take them down,” Luttrell, who holds a law degree, said in a news release issued by FIRE.
Within the next few months, she plans to decorate her skeletons for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and Pride month, according to the complaint.
The complaint says she “intends to continue incorporating her decorative skeletons into her holiday displays in the coming years.”
Ross told TODAY.com that if Luttrell takes down her skeletons before her court hearing, the only consequence she might face is covering legal fees.
With her lawsuit, Luttrell seeks a court order that declares Germantown’s attempts to censor her as unconstitutional, an injunction that prevents officials from enforcing the Holiday Decorations Ordinance as well as other relief.
“Germantown’s ordinance targets protected expression based on its message, and that’s unconstitutional,” McDonnell said.
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