Lawsuit renewed in pursuit of Cedar Rapids casino

CEDAR RAPIDS - Gene Kopecky, local attorney, one-time prosecutor and resolute ambassador for a Cedar Rapids casino, is back at it.

Kopecky has filed anew his lawsuit in Linn County District Court against the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission in an effort to secure a state gaming license for a Cedar Rapids casino.

In the lawsuit, Kopecky, retired from active practice at Ackley, Kopecky & Kingery LLP in Cedar Rapids, argues that the commission overstepped its authority when it denied a state gaming license for a Cedar Rapids casino in April 2014. In its denial, the commission took away the rights of Linn County voters who approved a gaming casino for the county in March 2013, the lawsuit claims.

Furthermore, Kopecky argues that the commission's reason for its license denial - that a Cedar Rapids casino would harm casinos in other nearby counties - is tantamount to the commission backing voters in other counties who approved gambling at the expense of Linn County voters.

Initially, Kopecky filed his lawsuit against the commission in July 2014. However, a judge dismissed it in December 2014 on procedural grounds, telling Kopecky he first must seek redress by appealing to the commission.

Kopecky did appeal, but the commission turned down the appeal in June.

Jeff Lamberti, chairman of the state commission and an attorney in Ankeny, has said Kopecky doesn't have a correct view of Iowa law. Iowa's gaming law gives the commission authority to make decisions about where casinos in the state are located, Lamberti has said.

Kopecky, who was not an investor in the casino proposal for Cedar Rapids in 2014, has said he investigated the prospect of bringing a riverboat casino to Cedar Rapids back in 1990.

He was told then by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that no motorized riverboat, a state requirement of casinos at the time, would be allowed on the Cedar River because of the river current on Cedar Lake near downtown.

Kopecky has said the Cedar Rapids casino investor group, led by businessman Steve Gray, is not a part of his lawsuit against the commission.