Aug 15, 2026
Residents' Lawsuit Against the AI Mega Factory Is Going to Trial
AL.com is reporting that Jefferson County Circuit Judge Javan Patton Crayton ruled Wednesday that the lawsuit brought by Oxmoor Valley residents Robert and Gail Sansome against Nebius, the City of Birmingham, and Hoar Construction will proceed to trial on March 8, 2027.
"By agreement of all parties, Plaintiff's Motion is hereby granted," the order reads.
Which is to say: the legality of the AI Mega Factory will be tested in open court, on the record, with witnesses under oath.
Some of that testimony has already been heard.
Over two days in mid-July, the Sansomes, a retired couple who live less than 1,000 feet from the site, described for the court what the project has already done to the quiet they moved to Oxmoor Valley to find.
As Robert Sansome put it, "It's like we've got an uninvited intruder in our home that shows up every day."
The court also heard from the City's own director of planning, engineering and permits, Katrina Thomas.
AL.com reports that Thomas testified that under the zoning rules Birmingham adopted this year, the project could not have gone forward without approval from the City Council, which would have required a change of zoning. She also testified that the site cannot expand.
In other words, by the City's own testimony, the AI Mega Factory could not be approved under the rules Birmingham has today. It proceeds only because its initial paperwork arrived just ahead of them.
Wednesday's ruling does not pause construction.
But it does guarantee that the questions Oxmoor Valley has been asking since the beginning will be answered where they should be: in a courtroom. A status conference is set for August 27.
The class action brought by neighboring homeowners, also before Judge Crayton, holds a status conference September 24, and the Greater Birmingham Humane Society's lawsuit is pending as well.