The Frivolous Lawsuits of State Rep. Edward Acevedo

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 27, 2007 7:00PM

State Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago) is no stranger to the long green. As one of the chief sponsors of HB 429, the wine shipping bill that aims to bring Illinois in compliance with the 2005 Supreme Court ruling in Granholm v. Heald by limiting the ways consumers can obtain wines, Acevedo received $7,500 in campaign contributions from the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois for carrying their water.

Turns out that Acevedo is also the litigious sort. On Tuesday Acevedo lost a lawsuit he filed against a Chicago Police officer. The suit claimed that the officer roughed up Acevedo - a cop himself - while he was waiting for a friend to pick up his car from the Lower Wacker impound yard six years ago. This was the second time Acevedo filed the lawsuit against Dennis Canterbury; a judge threw out the lawsuit the first time. Had Acevedo won the lawsuit, city taxpayers (the city paid for Canterbury's defense in both trials) would have been on the hook for $50,000 in damages on top of the $73K cost of the first trial, the mid-five figures the second trial expects to cost and the $25,000 the city spent to hire an expert who proved that Acevedo was "sauced" during the incident with Canterbury. It took the jury less than three hours to acquit Canterbury.

The tab could increase if Acevedo decides to appeal the verdict. Let's hope he doesn't and decides to continue doing the bidding of the beer lobby and HDO.

Image via Acevedo's Illinois General Assembly web page.