More than two dozen home owners are filing suit against Schroeder Manatee Ranch after the Lakewood Ranch company approved Paradise Homes to build there and then the company shut down operations.

Paradise Homes owner Jim Butler quit work on about two dozen homes in Lakewood Ranch and left buyers to complete the houses on their own.

The lawsuit claims that SMR approved an unqualified builder who had never built a custom home.

Sarasota Attorney Alan Tannenbaum and his brother Tampa Attorney Marc Tannen are representing about 30 disgruntled homeowners who purchased homes from the now defunct Paradise Homes.

Tannenbaum said that negotiations with SMR's general Counsel over the last two months have broken down and that he is filing a lawsuit on behalf of the homeowners today in Bradenton.