January 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 29

agency staff. In so doing, a better
public relations and mediation may
have defused a volatile situation and
possibly avoided the significant cost
associated with defending a lawsuit.
Unfortunately, even though a claim
may appear to be frivolous and without merit in retrospect, once a claim
is filed in federal court, it must still be
defended to have the suit effectively
dismissed prior to trial.
Pattern of Discrimination?
In the case of Jefferson v. City of Fremont, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157307
(N.D. Cal. 11/6/2014), plaintiff Walter Jefferson alleged discriminatory
treatment and harassment relating to
his use of the Fremont Tennis Center
(FTC). The FTC is a premier public
recreational tennis facility and part
of the City of Fremont's Parks and
Recreation Department. Players utilize the FTC for a variety of types of
play, including recreational play and
lessons. The FTC also hosts United
States Tennis Association (USTA)
tournament matches and league play.
In addition to the City of Fremont,
Jefferson also sued Jeff Gonce, in his
official capacity as the tennis director
of the FTC. Gonce's responsibilities included managing the FTC, scheduling
use of the FTC by all types of tennis
players, supervising staff and operating
the FTC within its budget. Gonce was
subordinate to Kelly King, a Recreation Superintendent II. Gonce did not
have the authority to enact official FTC
policies or guidelines.
The city filed a motion for summary judgment, which would effectively
dismiss the claim without a full trial.
In so doing, the city argued that Jefferson had failed to allege sufficient
facts upon which to base a federal
civil rights claim for racial discrimination.

Unresolved Conflict
Plaintiff Jefferson is an African-American tennis player. Beginning around
1985, Jefferson began to utilize the
FTC. Jefferson also participated in
USTA amateur league team play, including as captain for certain USTA
teams. From 1985 until approximately 2005, Jefferson enjoyed the use of
the FTC without incident. Jefferson
alleged the discrimination started in
2000 when Gonce was promoted to
supervisor. Due to the alleged discrimination, Jefferson claimed he ceased patronizing the FTC in 2005 until 2008.
There were a handful of conflicts
over the years between Jefferson and
Gonce regarding Jefferson's use of the
FTC courts. In one instance, Jefferson
alleged Gonce had set the FTC timers
to shut the lights off 50 minutes early
during an evening recreational reservation. After one confrontation, a witness testified that Jefferson told Gonce,
" If you do not give me courts, I will
go ahead and sue the city and I will
get you fired. Is this the route that you
want to take, Jeff ? Do you want to lose
your job? Do you want to be fired? "
Jefferson denied this account of the incident. According to Jefferson, Gonce
had told him he was " unwelcome "
and " to find elsewhere to play. "
Jefferson and Gonce also clashed
over reservations for USTA league play.
The USTA organized socially-competitive amateur tennis league play, and
the FTC participated in hosting league
matches. Courts for USTA league play
were obtained by making a reservation
with the FTC. For league matches, the
USTA league team captains were required to email Gonce proposed dates
for " home " matches; such requests were
approved by Gonce subject to court
availability and receipt of payment.
After approval, and at least 10 days
before the proposed match, the team

also had to fill out a use permit and
pay fees of $10 per court, per match.
Courts were not " booked " on the
reservation sheets until the FTC received the required fees. In March
of 2011, Gonce canceled certain requested dates reserved by Jefferson
for USTA league play after discovering that Jefferson had booked the
same dates at other facilities.
Residency Rules
In 2008, the FTC experienced challenges stemming from the financial
crisis, leading to budget cuts, service
reductions and a decrease in city personnel. Fees paid by tennis players
are the FTC's only source of funding.
Consequently, the FTC made an effort to maximize fees and accommodate demand for its courts, including
implementing certain procedures for
making a reservation.
In July of 2011, King directed Gonce
to review the FTC's procedures governing the USTA league hosting program due to the increased demand for
court space. In response, Gonce stated
that he had consulted with " other public tennis facilities, team captains and
USTA staff " in determining how to
limit the number of teams. In addition,
Gonce had explored multiple proposals, including a cap, using " most popular team levels, " and using Fremont
residency criteria.
The guidelines produced by Gonce
were ultimately reviewed and approved by King. The guidelines were
never approved by the city manager
or city council. Other regional tennis
facilities had also used residency policies to allocate courts to USTA league
teams. The FTC's residency requirements did not bar a non-Fremont player from participating in league play, but
rather assigned priority to teams based
on their number of Fremont residents.

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