The Asbury Park Press has a profile of Larry Loigman, an Orthodox Jewish lawyer with a fearsome reputation and a lengthy list of government lawsuits to his credit.
When Loigman returned to New Jersey, he brought with him both a law degree and a growing skepticism about government, he said. He combined those with a lesson he had learned as an Orthodox Jew, that he should strive to help his community, and he began to view himself as a government watchdog, he said.
"I was trying to look out for the financial situation of the taxpayers and to make sure things were done right, that public funds were not misused, that public officials did their jobs properly," the lawyer said.
So he sued. Everywhere he had legal standing.
He sued the state, at one time charging the Division of Pensions with mismanaging retirement programs.
He sued Monmouth County. In the 1980s, he demanded an investigation into the finances of the Prosecutor’s Office, then sued the state Attorney General for refusing to release the findings of the investigation.
He filed suit after suit against Middletown, where he lived until 1999 and where he still maintains his general-practice law office. In one suit that his critics love to cite, Loigman accused Middletown of hanging "duck crossing" signs without approval from the state Department of Transportation.
He moved to Ocean Township and began suing there: Because he was denied access to public records. Because, in a case still pending, the township attorney went on vacation and sent another lawyer to fill in for him at a meeting, but officials did not authorize the switch with a resolution.
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