The legal battle between Evanston and food truck Beavers Coffee and Donuts will continue for at least another month, a Cook County judge ruled Thursday.
The Chicago food truck initially sued Evanston in August over a city ordinance requiring all mobile food vendors to have a licensed food establishment within city limits. A judge dismissed the case in January, reasoning the owners of the food truck — James Nuccio and Gabriel Wiesen — had never actually applied for a license to operate in Evanston before filing their lawsuit. Nuccio and Wiesen were given 60 days to file an amended complaint with the court.
Beavers officially applied for an operating permit March 22. The city sent a preliminary response last week, requesting further information from the food truck before making a decision. Jacob Huebert, Beavers’ attorney, said the letter from the city requested more specific information about the operation of the truck, including more detailed diagrams of the truck’s structure and setup. In the list of required information, the city also requested an address for the food truck’s brick-and-mortar counterpart.
Huebert said Beavers will comply in the next two weeks.
“I’m confident that we can provide the city what it’s looking for, except the owning of a licensed food establishment,” Huebert said.
Huebert said he expects the city to deny Beavers’ application, in which case he and his clients will continue with their lawsuit. The next court date is May 14.
— Ciara McCarthy
