The first hearing in Ernie Dalidio's lawsuit against SLO's Downtown Association and dozens of unnamed defendants is scheduled for March 24.

The suit alleges that the Downtown Association, a partly city-funded and partly privately funded group, used public funds to oppose the Dalidio Marketplace project when it was offered to city voters as Measures A, B, and C. Dalidio claims to have suffered further injustice at the hands of the Responsible County Development LLC, whose members contributed to the No on Measure J campaign that opposed his later effort to get approval on the project from county voters. Dalidio is seeking an unspecified amount for damages.

Measure J was overturned Feb. 1, 2008, when ECOSLO and another citizens group challenged its legality.

At the hearing, the city of SLO will seek to have the suit, or at least parts of it, dismissed, according to City Attorney Jonathan Lowell.