Mo. court backs property owners facing condemnation threat

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Supreme Court delivers a victory for property owners facing a government threat to take their land.

Tuesday's unanimous ruling allows the owners of a suburban Kansas City shopping center to go to trial seeking millions of dollars of damages from the city of Gladstone.

The city declared the Gladstone Plaza Shopping Center to be blighted several years ago -- laying the groundwork to take the property through condemnation and redevelop it.

But the city has yet to go forward with condemnation proceedings.

In the meantime, the shopping center claims the mere threat of condemnation has caused many of its tenants to leave.

The Supreme Court ruling reinstates a lawsuit against the city that had been thrown out by a circuit judge.