A group of farmers has sued the owner and developer of a controversial Kunia agriculture tract, claiming the farmers were misled into believing they were buying fee-simple land in the project instead of shares in the nonprofit organization that actually owns the property.

The shares gave buyers exclusive use of specific parcels via 99-year leases.

“We were sucked into buying lots as fee simple,” said Pepe Paguirigan, one of 26 farmers who filed the lawsuit.

Attorney Michael Green, who represents the farmers, said advertising materials for the project enticed buyers with specific references to fee-simple ownership. One example the lawsuit cited had touted a price of $50,000 to $60,000 per acre, followed by “FEE SIMPLE!!!”

The farmers also were repeatedly told that there was no difference between owning a share in the nonprofit and owning fee-simple interest in the land, according to the lawsuit.

Yet when some buyers subsequently applied for loans to complete their purchases or to pay for farm equipment, their applications were denied because the farmers didn’t own the fee interest in the land, according to Paguirigan and the lawsuit.

Kunia Loa Ridge Farmlands, the nonprofit owner of the 854-acre development, and C&C Farmlands, the developer, were named as defendants, along with several real estate companies and individuals who marketed the project.

A representative for the developer could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

But C&C previously told buyers that they signed sales contracts and other documents specifying they were purchasing ownership in the nonprofit corporation and a proprietary lease giving them exclusive control of specific lots.

“You were given an opportunity to review all these documents and if the deal was not as you thought it would be, you had the right to cancel within 30 days and get a refund of any deposit,” wrote C&C Manager Larry Ordonez in a December letter addressed to “owners of lots” in Kunia Loa.

Green, however, said the documents were convoluted.

“You had to be a law professor to understand them,” he said.

The lawsuit, filed in state court, seeks unspecified damages, alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices, fraud by omission and other claims.

The litigation is the latest controversy to draw attention to the project, which is along the undeveloped foothills in Kunia and is completely off the grid, unconnected to Oahu’s power, water, telephone and sewer lines.

Over the past year or so, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has reported on the proliferation of unregulated building throughout the agriculture-zoned development, including many houselike structures, some of which appear to have people living in them. Residential use is not allowed on that land.

A state law passed in 2012 exempts nonresidential structures smaller than 1,000 square feet from county building permit requirements if the structures are built on commercial farms or ranches outside the urban district.

After the newspaper in February wrote about a Buddhist temple operating in Kunia Loa, the city issued the operators a citation for an unpermitted use and ordered a halt to temple activities.

A subsequent inspection showed temple signs and banners were removed and the building no longer was being used as a temple, so the case was closed and no fine was assessed, a city spokesman said Wednesday.