KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma’s claim to 1,920 acres of prime industrial real estate in downtown Kansas City, Kan.

U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia said the tribe’s lawsuits were filed decades too late and the claims should have gone before a federal commission that considered such ownership disputes in the 1940s and 1950s.

The tribe “has slept on its claims against the United States and therefore is barred from bringing its claims against private, third party landowners who had no role,” Murguia wrote.

An attorney for the tribe said he was reviewing the decision and would comment later.

News of the decision was met with relief by officials with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., who have been fighting the suit for years.

While the suit was pending, everyone from small homeowners to companies like General Motors Corp. and Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp. have had clouded land titles and difficulty closing land deals.

In the suit, the tribe said that while treaties show the nation gave most of its land to the federal government in 1855, the tribe held on to a few parcels. Tribal attorneys said the government erroneously gave these parcels to others and the tribe now wanted the land or compensation.

Many Kansas City, Kan., leaders said they thought the lawsuit was part of the Wyandotte Nation’s attempt to build a casino in downtown. State investigators closed down a tribe-operated casino there this spring.

Unified Government Commissioner Nathan Barnes said he and other local officials actually supported the tribe’s efforts to build a casino but viewed the litigation as overkill.

For example, Barnes said the lawsuit scuttled a proposal to redevelop the area with residential housing and made it difficult for many people to sell houses and attract new businesses.

“I have no love for someone that will hold a community hostage in return for them seeking their ability to gamble,” Barnes said.

In his ruling, Murguia said the Indian Claims Commission, set up in 1946, ruled on several disputes like this. The statute of limitations for such disputes, he said, expired in 1951.