A nephew of former Mayor Richard Daley should be dismissed from a lawsuit over the 2004 death of David Koschman because it wasn’t filed within the statute of limitations, attorneys for Daley’s nephew said in a recent filing.
The 11-page motion to dismiss argued that by law any wrongful death action had to be filed within two years of Koschman’s death, but the suit by Koschman’s mother, Nanci, was filed just last month, about a decade after his death during a drunken confrontation in the Rush Street nightlife area.
It marks the first of what is expected to be a series of motions on behalf of more than 25 defendants to try to convince U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer to throw out the suit.
Koschman’s attorneys declined comment Thursday on the filing, but they could argue that the statute of limitations hasn’t passed because police officers involved in the investigation into Koschman’s death allegedly conspired to cover up wrongdoing more recently.
Daley’s nephew, Richard “R.J.” Vanecko, pleaded guilty earlier this year to involuntary manslaughter for throwing the fatal punch and just completed a 60-day sentence in jail this week. Other defendants named in the lawsuit include the city of Chicago, Cook County, former police Superintendents Phil Cline and Jody Weis, numerous other former high-level police officials, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and former State’s Attorney Dick Devine.
The lawsuit, relying heavily on an investigation by special prosecutor Dan Webb that led to the criminal charges, alleged that Daley or someone closely connected to him or his family caused high-ranking police officials to learn within hours of Koschman’s death that the mayor’s nephew was involved in order to prevent him from being criminally charged or sued.
The suit also alleged that during separate investigations seven years apart police fabricated evidence and altered official files, all in a bid to falsely make it appear that Koschman was the aggressor in the altercation even though he was 10 inches shorter and more than 100 pounds lighter than Vanecko.
Attorneys aren’t expected to appear in federal court on the case until June.
