The owners of land where Wal-Mart wants to build a west Lawrence store filed suit against the city April 15 — the seventh in a series of lawsuits tied to the city’s refusal last May to allow the store’s construction.

“Our damages are real, and will be proven in court,” said Bill Newsome, a partner with Lawrence developer Doug Compton in 6Wak Land Investments, the property owner.

City officials said they had not seen the suit and would not comment.

“We refrain from discussing matters in litigation, to the extent we can,” Assistant City Manager Dave Corliss said.

Overland Park attorney Scott Beeler, of the Lathrop and Gage law firm the city hired to defend the suits, said he might have comment after seeing the suit.

The filing comes after the Lawrence City Commission this week rezoned the property on the northwest corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive to essentially prohibit a “big-box” store on the site.

No store bigger than 80,000 square feet now will be allowed. Wal-Mart had planned on a 132,000-square-foot store, which was the maximum size the city had previously allowed for the site.

Newsome said 6Wak relied on the 132,000-square-foot approval when buying the land. The City Commission acted unfairly by changing the rules after the purchase, he said.

“We don’t have the ability to rewrite history to change the price we paid for the property,” he said. “The City Commission … seems to think it does have the ability to go back and rewrite history.”

No hearing has been scheduled in the newest case.