Counsel vows to get $44.7 million verdict overturned

Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel on Friday assured aldermen that a $44.7 million verdict believed to be the highest involving a police misconduct case in Chicago history will be appealed and overturned.

"The taxpayers of the city of Chicago should not be held liable to pay for the purely private conduct of an off-duty police officer," Siskel told aldermen on the final day of City Council budget hearings.

"We fully intend to appeal that verdict and believe that we have very strong grounds for challenging the finding of liability against the city and the amount of the verdict…We are…confident that we will succeed in overturning that verdict."

Last month, a federal jury in a civil case found that off-duty Chicago Police Officer Patrick Kelly pulled the trigger that left his friend, Michael LaPorta permanently disabled and confined to a wheelchair after a night of drinking at Kelly's home in January 2010.

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