The Union League Club of Chicago, a storied private institution founded nearly 150 years ago in the wake of the Civil War, is facing its own internecine battle — and a lawsuit — over a rescinded dinner party invitation.
Steven Goodwin, 63, a Chicago-based investment adviser who has been a Union League member since 2009 and formerly served on its board, is suing the club after he was suspended for refusing to disinvite his date to an annual dinner.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges club leadership waged an eleventh hour campaign to get Goodwin to cancel his date with fellow member Stephanie Capps to the Feb. 28 invite-only affair honoring Frank DeVincentis, the club’s outgoing president. The reason given to Goodwin for the demand was that Capps, who had previously dated the since-married DeVincentis, would cause “personal discomfort” to the president’s wife if she attended, according to the lawsuit.
Goodwin and Capps refused, tensions escalated and he was suspended on the eve of the event, according to the lawsuit. Neither attended the dinner.
“I’ve attended multiple events with high-level VIP dignitaries,” Goodwin told the Tribune Thursday. “I could never imagine a day where I would register for an event and then 72 hours before the event, somebody at my club would call me and say don’t come because we don’t like your guest.”
Mark Lies, an attorney with Chicago-based Seyfarth Shaw representing the Union League Club, issued a statement Thursday in response to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
“The Club has not been formally served with any complaint,” Lies said in an email. “It is Club policy not to comment on any pending litigation.”
Founded in 1879, the Union League Club has long been a who’s who of civic leadership. Its influential membership once included such luminaries as architect Daniel Burnham, whose 1909 Plan of Chicago shaped the development of the city, its parks system and its open lakefront.
While the club has struggled financially in the post-pandemic landscape, selling a prized painting by French impressionist Claude Monet two years ago to raise money for a planned $10 million renovation of its nearly century-old Loop building, it remains an integral part of Chicago’s social and business community.
For Goodwin, a military veteran who served on the board from 2016 to 2019, the Union League Club was a part of his daily life, a place where he stopped in for everything from breakfast before work to haircuts. As a former board member, he was invited to attend the annual vice president’s dinner on Feb. 28, an annual event honoring the outgoing president at the end of his one-year term.
Goodwin accepted and asked Capps to go with him. Three days before the event, Goodwin received a call from former Union League president Bob Ryan, who requested he disinvite Capps, according to the lawsuit.
He refused the request.
On Feb. 27, Goodwin got a call from DeVincentis himself, who “demanded” he disinvite Capps because her presence would be “offensive” to his wife and cause her to be uncomfortable, according to the lawsuit. Goodwin again refused the request.
That same day, Rebecca Thomson, the club’s second vice president, reached out by phone to Capps, attempting to “pressure her to withdraw” from the event, according to the lawsuit. Capps also declined the request.
“I was totally shocked when I got the call from the second vice president,” Capps, 43, told the Tribune. “I was kind of speechless at first to hear the things that she was saying.”
Less than an hour after Capps received the call, Goodwin got a letter from the club informing him that he was suspended.
The Feb. 27 suspension letter references a violation of the club’s code of conduct, including a “‘threat’, whether real or perceived,” Goodwin allegedly directed at Ryan. Goodwin denies making any threats toward Ryan or anyone else associated with the club, according to the lawsuit.
After two months of suspension, Goodwin attended an April 28 disciplinary hearing at the club — without legal representation. He was never presented with a written complaint and given five minutes to state his case, according to the lawsuit. The following day, the board informed Goodwin that he had violated club rules, but would be reinstated on May 1, with the incident on his permanent record.
Enrico Mirabelli, a Chicago attorney representing Goodwin, said the lawsuit is intended to hold club leadership accountable for their actions and clear his client’s name by shining a very public light on a private institution.
“This lawsuit demonstrates that what happens in a private club does not always remain private, nor should it,” Mirabelli told the Tribune.
The lawsuit alleges the club violated its own bylaws by not providing Goodwin with a written complaint and suspending him without due process in a “thinly-veiled attempt” to keep him and his guest from attending the vice president’s dinner.
It is seeking a declaratory judgement to expunge Goodwin’s record.
Capps, an attorney, joined the Union League Club for networking when she launched her law firm 13 years ago. She lives in northwest suburban Crystal Lake and regularly uses conference rooms at the Chicago venue for meeting with clients.
She dated DeVincentis about eight years ago, and said they had been on cordial terms since he got married. Capps said she was “shocked” by the effort to disinvite her from the vice president’s dinner.
While she has continued to come to the club, the vibe has been different since the incident, Capps said.
“It’s widely known and totally awkward,” Capps said.
Capps is supportive of Goodwin’s suit, even as it fleshes out what happened more broadly.
Goodwin, who has returned to the club several times since May 1, said other members have welcomed him back, while the president has mostly given him the cold shoulder.
In addition to formally expunging his disciplinary record, Goodwin is hoping the lawsuit will force club leadership across the board to acknowledge that he was treated unfairly.
“What Frank needs to do, in my opinion, is make a public apology,” Goodwin said. “If nothing else, an apology to myself and my guest for disparaging me and abusing his authority to outcome a personal victory for himself for whatever reason.”
