The City of Coronado has settled a lawsuit with longtime tennis pro Mario DiLonardo who alleged the city had fraudulently engaged in a tennis concessions contract with Impact Activities.
The issue started in 2020; the lawsuit was filed in May of 2021.
The city last month agreed to pay DiLonardo $10,000 and said there was no “liability or unlawful conduct of any kind,” according to the agreement obtained under California’s Public Records Act from the city.
Basically, I was up against a city with unlimited financial resources. I fought for years.”
-Former Coronado tennis pro Mario DiLonardo.
“Basically, I was up against a city with unlimited financial resources. I fought for years,” DiLonardo said in a phone call with The Coronado News.
He is now director of junior tennis and a high performance coach in Peoria, Illinois, he said.
“I feel not just vindicated, but for people in the community who know about my coaching and all the years of work, I hope this puts a clear message across the reasons why I’m not [in Coronado] have nothing to do with character or anything I did,” DiLonardo said.
City officials and Impact Activities declined to comment for this story.
Suit: Conflict of interest, policy violations
Coronado sought bids to operate the tennis concession at the Coronado Tennis Center in 2020. Impact Activities, a group from Texas run by Matt Hanlin and Joel Myers, submitted a bid to run the Tennis Center.
According to DiLonardo in a previous interview, there were several legal issues when Impact Activities submitted its bid.
One involved a city employee, Samantha Nelson, who at the time of the bid in 2021 was employed by the Parks and Recreations Department.
Nelson was a part of the bid process with the city by being its in-house coordinator for the bid while simultaneously being offered a better salary with Impact Activities, according to the bid.
That was a conflict of interest and violated city policy, according to the lawsuit.
“Sam is excited about joining the Impact team as we will guarantee her more hours and therefore greater income,” stated Impact Activities’ bid.
Nelson currently still works as an administrator for Impact Activities. She declined to comment.
Allegation of a false claim
The second issue, as stated in the lawsuit, was that Impact Activities made a false claim that nothing would change at the Tennis Center if they were to become the new concessionaire.
That meant a group of tennis professionals, including DiLonardo, who taught in Coronado could operate as they always used to.
“During the bidding process, Joel Meyers (“Meyers”) a fellow CTC pro who was part of Impact’s team and the local managing agent for Impact, told the pros working at the CTC that if they endorsed Impact’s bid and Impact won, they would all be able to keep their jobs and make more money,” reads the first amended complaint in the lawsuit filed by DiLonardo.
However, following Impact Activities’ takeover as concessionaire, DiLonardo previously told The Coronado News that he was told his contract would not be renewed.
That means he could no longer teach in Coronado, even though Impact Activities told the pros they would be able to keep their jobs, DiLonardo said.
DiLonardo says he didn’t back Impact
The third issue was that Impact Activities claimed that they had the full support of all the tennis pros on their bid.
However, in a series of emails given to The Coronado News earlier this year, DiLonardo showed that he never offered his support.
DiLonardo said in a previous interview that Impact Activities never put in writing what he – and other pros – would be specifically supporting by backing the company.
