It sounds like every property owner's nightmare: Without notice, your local government declares your holdings are blighted, opening the door to a taking where your land is sold to a private redeveloper.

That's what happened to a landowner in Glendale, Colorado—until a team from Kirkland & Ellis led by R. Alexander Pilmer got involved.

On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled the city violated Kirkland client M.A.K. Investment Group's due process rights.

Colorado's urban renewal statute declares that eliminating “blighted” areas to be a public use for which municipalities can use their power of eminent domain. Here, Glendale came up with a “Riverwalk Urban Renewal Plan” that entailed condemning a group of properties for redevelopment. M.A.K. said it asked a city representative what “blight” meant and whether M.A.K. should take any action in response. The representative answered that M.A.K. “did not need to worry about the notice,” according to the court.

At a hearing a few weeks later, the city found the property blighted—but didn't actually tell M.A.K. By the time M.A.K. found it—when it was pursuing its own redevelopment plan—the 30-day window to review the determination had passed.

The district court sided with Glendale, ruling that M.A.K. did not have due process rights at stake because the blight determination was legislative in nature.

The Tenth Circuit said no. “The right to challenge the blight determination is not just a right to a hearing for its own sake, but a right to overturn a blight determination that was an abuse of discretion pursuant to the statute,” wrote Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich for the panel. “Had M.A.K. learned about the blight determination, M.A.K. could have found out for itself what remedies it could pursue. What the Due Process Clause required here was not so much to ask—merely a letter, an envelope, and a stamp.”

Other Kirkland lawyers who worked on the case include partner Michael A. Onufer, associate Allison Ozurovich and former associate Lianna Bash. Pryor & Pascoe in Denver was co-counsel.