The legal action became necessary after the city was informed of the illegal annexations and refused to take steps to correct the problem.

It's actually a very simple matter. Both parcels, Belle West #118 and WNW #111, are outside the city's Urban Growth Boundary, (UGB), preventing annexation unless certain requirements are met. Both annexations were in violation of state law. Neither property met any of the requirements to be annexed. Neither property was approved by the county to be annexed as required by the 2005 inter-local agreement between Lenoir City and Loudon County.

Aside from the absolute violations of state law and violation of the inter-local agreement, both property annexations have major problems with the actual permitting processes. Everything from missing signatures, missing documents, potentially forged signatures and many other process issues.

Hopefully, during discovery and depositions, many unanswered questions can be answered.

Ironically, Lenoir City actually passed the first illegal annexation, Belle West #118, back in 2020 and by not informing the county of the annexation, as required by state law, no one from the county knew of the illegal action. Then in November 2022, when the city attempted to make the second illegal annexation, WNW #111, the county caught that one, which lead to the discovery of the previous illegal annexation. Guess they figured if they got away with it once, they could get away with it again.

The city now has 30 days to respond. As the case goes forward, and given the city can't possibly defend their actions, watch for them to try every trick in the book to try to get it dismissed on some kind of technicality. That ploy shouldn't work either.

Below is a link to view the lawsuit. 

Click Here To Read Lawsuit