Darien Neutral In 'Nasty' Country Club Battle

DARIEN, IL – Darien is proclaiming neutrality in the "nasty" legal battle between Carriage Greens Country Club and its banquet manager.

Last month, the country club sued to evict the banquet manager, Heidi Revelis, who provides food and beverage service for the restaurant and banquets as a separate entity. Revelis countersued.

"What started out as a simple eviction proceeding now has turned into a rugged, nasty lawsuit, countersuit involving competing claims of several hundred thousand dollars each," Darien's attorney, John Murphey, said at Monday's City Council meeting. "Unless there is a quick reconciliation, this could be a long time, based on the paper and charges and countercharges."

As such, he said the city has been put in a tough position because of the liquor license.

Murphey said the country club contends Revelis' entity lacks a license, while the entity reports the country club says it didn't need one. The lawyer said he met with the mayor and city staff.

"We've reached the consensus that we want to be Switzerland as far as this dispute is concerned. We want complete neutrality and not pick sides," Murphey said. "But most importantly, we do not want to jeopardize people who have relied on this facility for weddings and events moving forward. It would be a terrible thing to yank the (entity's) license on the basis of this and thereby hurt innocent people."

He said the city would have approved the license for the separate entity when it started four years ago.

"We thought this would put us in the best position to let the combatants fight it out and let the (entity) proceed the way they should have four years ago," Murphey said. "That's not a guarantee that we won't be brought into this lawsuit. But I think the course we've chosen is the best way for us not to take sides in this."

The City Council unanimously approved the liquor license for the separate entity.

In a statement Tuesday, the county club's owner, Brian Broderick, said, "The Broderick family is working fast and furiously to evict Heidi Revelis in an effort to prevent any future damage to our 40-plus year reputation and to our customers."

A message left with Revelis last week has not been returned.