(September 13, 2006)—Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping a Central Texas-based organization that claims it can protect property owners from potential eminent domain proceedings linked to the multi-billion dollar Trans Texas Corridor project.

Two of the three individuals named in the suit are Central Texas residents.

The lawsuit led to the cancellation of a meeting sponsored by the group “You Can’t Take It” Saturday at Temple High School.

The suit alleges the promoters of the Web site attempt to scare property owners “into believing their properties may be affected by future highway projects,” according to a release issued Wednesday afternoon by Texas Department of Transportation.

“The scare tactics then lead to offers to rescue them from speculative eminent domain proceedings for a fee of $600, which will increase to $1,000 by November. The organization also would assess homeowners a $100 yearly ‘maintenance fee,’” the release said.

The group’s Web site was offline Wednesday evening, but an ad that appears on e-Bay says the organization “can literally save your home and property.”

The ad says the organization has “attorneys working with us” and that “if we all stand together we can accomplish our mission to benefit all.”

The group claims it can halt eminent domain proceedings “by filing commercial lease agreements or otherwise encumbering the property, using the organization’s so-called ‘Property Protection Scheme,’” the state says.

“To the contrary, the organization’s attempts to encumber these properties with commercial lease agreements for the purpose of ‘economic development’ to block state condemnation could place homeowners in jeopardy of losing these properties,” the state’s press release said.

“Residential property owners are being taken for a ride by these so-called transportation experts,” Abbott said.

“They have no standing whatsoever to insert themselves into such legal proceedings, and homeowners, who are already protected by the Constitution, will find they have paid a lot of money for a service that is null and void,” he said.

The suit names Douglas Lee Thayer (aka Morgan) and Lou Ann Reed (aka Fuller) of Killeen and Nykee Jolene Murray (aka Keen) of Austin, as well as YouCan’tTakeIt, LLC, the release said.

The suit seeks both temporary and permanent injunctions and penalties of $20,000 per violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, a penalty of $250,000 if a harmed consumers is 65 years of age or older, and reasonable attorneys’ fees, the state said.

Click Here For Texas Attorney General’s Web Site

Click Here For TxDOT Web Site

Click Here For YouCan’tTakeIt Web site (May Not Be Online)

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