A 26-year-old legal dispute over an adult bookstore on the Northwestside may have been the trigger for an attack that put a member of the Indiana House of Representatives in the hospital.

The dispute involved the father of August J. Mendenhall, 38, who is facing assault charges in Hamilton County. The victim, Rep. Edward DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, was one of the attorneys who handled the case in 1983.

“Apparently there was some attempt to right what he thought was a wrong or trying to take vengeance,” said Ed Treacy, Marion County Democratic chairman, who has worked with DeLaney.

DeLaney, 66, is recovering from injuries that included facial fractures and a broken rib. The situation could have been worse because, police said, Mendenhall was carrying a .25-caliber pistol and might have tried to use it.

In the moments before the attack in Carmel, a man who knew DeLaney drove by and grew worried by the odd gestures DeLaney made to him — worried enough to call police.

Mendenhall faces preliminary charges of attempted murder, robbery, aggravated battery, resisting law enforcement and criminal confinement. He was being held Sunday night without bond in the Hamilton County Jail.

The DeLaney family declined to comment Sunday about the incident.

The court case that might have led to the attack began in 1983, when Stephen Goldsmith was the Marion County prosecutor and trying to close down adult bookstores. One of them was on property owned by Burke Mendenhall, August Mendenhall’s father, on West 38th Street.

The property involved DeBartolo Development, the company that had developed Lafayette Square Mall. Treacy said DeLaney was one of the attorneys representing DeBartolo.

Court records showed that Burke Mendenhall had leased the property to a tenant, who was going to open an adult bookstore, when Goldsmith filed a civil suit against the bookstore using the Indiana Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, also known as RICO. A trial court let Goldsmith and police seize the bookstore, a move that was reversed by the Indiana Court of Appeals and then reinstated by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Six years later, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the seizure of material from the bookstore was unconstitutional on the grounds of prior restraint. Burke Mendenhall eventually agreed not to have an adult bookstore in the building.

But he had fired his own salvo during the long court fight, bringing suit against the city and Goldsmith, seeking $75 million in damages over lost business and harm to his reputation. The suit was dropped when U.S. District Court determined Goldsmith was immune from civil liability.

If the whole dispute had long dropped from the public eye, Treacy is among those who fear it resurfaced violently Saturday morning.

As John Palmer and his wife drove to breakfast, they suspected something odd was going on when they recognized DeLaney sitting in a stopped car, in itself unusual because there was so little traffic on the street.

That was on Catherine Drive, north of Main Street in Carmel, near Palmer’s home. He said he and his wife did not know the person they described as a redheaded man in the front passenger seat of the car that DeLaney was driving, but DeLaney’s actions gave Palmer the impression that something was wrong.

“He said he was looking at property, but the whole time he was giving us the finger and winking,” Palmer said. “He was gesturing — that was so odd — we thought he was trying to tell us something. He had his hand down where the other guy couldn’t see him.”

Worried there might be trouble, Palmer called Carmel police. According to a printed statement, officers arrived at Catherine Drive to find August Mendenhall on top of DeLaney. Mendenhall ran from police and was caught after a Taser was used to stop him, police said. After his arrest, police said, they found he had a handgun.