Homeowners sue Fayette schools to stop eminent domain effort
Four property owners on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Fayette County Board of Education members who declared eminent domain on portions of their yards next to the Rise STEM Academy for Girls on Versailles Road.
The land is needed for expanded bus lanes off Versailles Road up to the new school, District Chief Operating Officer Myron Thompson told the Herald-Leader this week. Moving infrastructure on the other side of the property could cost as much as $240,000, he said.
Members of the board and Superintendent Demetrus Liggins knew or should have known “of the impermissible acts “ of its employees, agents or contractors who were “trespassing on, destroying and unlawfully taking” the properties in violation of state law, the lawsuit said.
One of the plaintiffs, Theresa Lieto, owns a property at 1965 Fair Oaks Drive. Exhibits in the lawsuit show the school board offered her $48,000 for a portion of her land and she declined.
Plantiff 12M LLC is the owner of a property on Port Royal Drive rented by two elderly people; Plantiff Kristopher Zander owns a property on Port Royal Drive; Plantiff M &T Investment is the owner of a property on Port Royal Drive where a family member lives. Exhibits in the lawsuit show the school board offered those property owners more than $5,000 each for a portion of their land and they declined.
From the time the district in 2022 paid $10.1 million for the 35-acre property where the 900-student school is being built, the property owners asked what kind of project was in the works and what would be done to protect their property, the lawsuit said.
The response from school district officials was either non-existent, vague or uncertain, leaving property owners frustrated and bewildered.
“They had no idea what kind of nightmare was about to unfold until construction commenced,” the complaint said. The plaintiffs are being represented by attorney Bruce Simpson.
Then on Monday Aug. 4, the school board voted to take over the land, which members were allowed to do under eminent domain laws — condemning the land, but paying homeowners the assessed value of it.
Land use attorney George Allgeier, who is representing the school district, said Friday he didn’t immediately have a comment.
Last October, Simpson sent a cease and desist order to the district saying it was trespassing on the homeowners’ property along the driveway used by former owner Dudley Webb and his family.
“There is no recorded easement or right of way for this driveway,” the lawsuit says. “The School Board has plenty of vacant land on which it can construct access to Versailles Road without unfairly and impermissibly burdening the lives of these citizens and their families.”
However, after the school board voted to pursue eminent domain to the property owners’ backyards, the lawsuit says, construction started again on their property, something the lawsuit said was an “egregious violation of the law by an elected body that knows better.
“In lieu of obtaining prior court approval before trespassing upon plaintiffs’ land and taking their property, the defendants simply chose to cavalierly take it and destroy it. Such bad faith actions disqualify defendants from taking plaintiffs’ property pursuant to the condemnation laws of the Commonwealth.”
The lawsuit asks for punitive and compensatory damages for the plaintiffs.
Simpson said in a statement he was disappointed the school board members would not meet with the plaintiffs “so that we could share the incredible hardship that jamming this new bus route right next to their homes will have on the quality of their lives and the radical devaluation of their property.”
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 8:53 AM.