FCPS owes California tech company more than $500K and won’t pay, lawsuit says

A technical solutions company filed a lawsuit this week claiming Fayette County Public Schools owes the company more than $500,000 for equipment and labor.

The company, California-based HQE, was contracted in August 2021 to update the crisis management notification system for the district’s 74 schools.

But in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Fayette Circuit Court, the company says the district has “failed, refused, and/or neglected” to pay $508,694 it owes for equipment and labor related to the update.

The lawsuit comes as the Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent said the fiscal year 2026 budget is in a crisis amid a $16 million budget shortfall, a dwindling contingency fund and a pending special examination from the Kentucky auditor’s office.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.

Jordan White, a lawyer for HQE, said Friday he does not comment on pending litigation. Fayette schools spokesperson Miranda Scully said the same.

The contract at issue dates back to June 2021, according to the lawsuit, when Fayette schools received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to update its crisis management notification system.

FCPS agreed to pay $210,548 for HQE to provide a new system for all of its schools, and also to reimburse HQE for the expense of purchasing hardware needed for updates to the schools’ existing emergency management notification system.

The total cost, including $250,046 for 74 indoor speaker units and $48,100 for 74 radio integration modules, came to $508,694, according to the suit.

FCPS approved the contract on April 5, 2022, and HQE delivered and installed the system.

But in August 2022, school district officials notified HQE that Demetrus Liggins, who became superintendent in July 2021, did not want the system that HQE had installed, the complaint said.

The company was asked to remove the equipment from the schools.

“At no point prior to this conversation did FCPS ever notify HQE — verbally, in writing, or otherwise — of any intent to terminate or cancel the August 2021 contract, the April 2022 contract, or the purchase order, or otherwise limit the materials and/or labor called for those documents,” the lawsuit said.

As of the filing of the lawsuit this week, the complaint alleged, the school district has paid nothing to HQE for the goods provided and services rendered to FCPS.

“Yet it kept all the equipment that it ordered and received from HQE,” the lawsuit said. “This action is necessary to compensate HQE for the damages it has suffered because of FCPS’s contractual breaches and violations of applicable law.”

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This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 5:45 PM.