BRENTWOOD — Lawyers for four small businesses said they would appeal a St. Louis County judge's ruling that the city of Brentwood broke no laws when it declared their Manchester Road properties blighted to help clear the way for a developer's $400 million plan to remake the area.

If the judge's decision is allowed to stand, cities across Missouri would be allowed to use their own arbitrary definitions of blight to take private property for redevelopment, the plaintiffs' attorneys said Friday.

The small businesses — including a fly fishing shop, a dance studio and a building owner — are represented by the Institute for Justice, an Arlington, Virginia-based libertarian public interest law firm that litigated the landmark eminent domain case Kelo v. New London in front of the U.S. Supreme C

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