Christmas may be a season of giving and goodwill – but the law never sleeps and court cases trundle on through the festive period.

Some, indeed, are caused by Christmas ding-dongs – some serious, some less so.

In this article, we take a look at eight times that the Christmas spirit couldn't stop a run-in with the law.

1. A Christmas display too far?

In Plantation, Florida, Mark and Kathy Hyatt are known for their "Extreme Christmas" lawn spectaculars. Each year, thousands of guests flock to their home to see more than 200,000 lights, a 20-foot Ferris wheel and more.

In 2016, however, they were sued by the city. The reason? The displays were deemed a "nuisance" as well as a safety hazard.

The Hyatts defended the displays, saying they were protected by the right to freedom of religion. The judge ruled in their favour.

2. Shelbourne v Cancer Research UK, 2019

A more serious court case occurred after one of Cancer Research UK's Christmas parties. The event featured a buffet, ceilidh and disco and was open both to staff and ticket buyers.

One Robert Bielik was on the guest list. He drunkenly tried to lift Sandra Shelbourne, one of the charity's animal technicians, but lost his balance and dropped her on the dance floor, causing a back injury.

Shelbourne didn't sue Bielik, but Cancer Research itself. This is an example of what's known in tort law as "vicarious liability" – the responsibility of employers for the behaviour of their employees. 

Shelbourne said that Cancer Research hadn't properly supervised the party and was therefore liable for Bielik's actions.

However, the court ruled in the charity's favour, saying that it had adequately supervised the party.

3. Jingle all the way… to court?

In perhaps the most relatable of these eight cases, attorney Nick Wilder sued his neighbour for having a musical plastic reindeer outside her home. The reindeer was relentless in its commitment to singing "Jingle Bells".

Wilder sued the homeowner for noise pollution, saying: "If she wants to play that in her house, she can do it all night long but no one else wants to hear it… Think about it, do you want to hear 16 hours of 'Jingle Bells' in a row? No!"

The judge was sympathetic and ruled in Wilder's favour.

4. Christmas in Dixie

In 1982, American country band Alabama released "Christmas in Dixie" – a festive tune celebrating Christmas in several southern American states.

English-Australian songwriter Allan Caswell wasn't happy about it. He claimed that the song ripped off "On the Inside", the theme tune he wrote for the TV show Prisoner.

In 2010, he sued ATV/Sony – but announced four years later that he'd lost the legal battle.

Was he hard done by? Judge for yourself.

[EMBED YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TC38KlmnSo]

[EMBED YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iKQHYg0ElI]

5. Santa Fraud

Ohio resident Warren J Hayes somehow managed to get several official documents under the name Santa Claus, boasting 1 Noel Drive, North Pole, USA as his address.

Hayes passed as Santa for 20 years before getting involved in a minor car accident. He was charged under an Ohio statute that banned the use of "fictitious" names.

But Judge Thomas P. Gysegem was sympathetic to Mr Claus. He ruled that Hayes's ID card wasn't fictitious: "In fact, under the publicly held records of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Santa has been a 'real person' since as early as 1982."

How he got the documents in the first place is another matter.

6. Lynch v Donnelly

It's surprising how often Christmas displays in North America descend into legal battles.

In 1984, members of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the legality of Christmas decorations in the shopping district of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. These included a Santa house, a Christmas tree, a creche and a "Season's Greetings" banner.

The ACLU claimed that the scene violated the Establishment Clause (no punning at the back, please) of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Both the District Court of Rhode Island and the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit agreed – but these rulings were overturned by the Supreme Court on the grounds that the display had "legitimate secular purposes".

7. Who's the real Queen of Christmas?

"The Queen of Christmas" is a crown that's been worn by Mariah Carey since 1994, when she released "All I Want for Christmas is You" – a song that's grossed somewhere in the region of $72 million.

However, she's recently faced a lawsuit by country singer Andy Stone, who claims that Carey plagiarised him.

On paper, the claim looks not implausible. Stone released a song of the same name with his band Vince Vance and the Valiants in 1988. Carey, it's alleged, copied the "compositional structure of an extended comparison between a loved one and trappings of seasonal luxury, and further includes several of Plaintiffs' lyrical phrases".

Stone has already tried once and lost. Perhaps 2023 will be the year he gets his $20 million in damages.