PATERSON — After a four-year legal dispute, a judge last week dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city filed by Jerry Lobozzo, a controversial municipal official who recently retired.
The decision by Superior Court Judge Bruno Mongiardo marked a rare instance in which Paterson completely prevailed in litigation filed by an employee accusing the city of wrongdoing. In many other instances, the city has opted to settle such lawsuits by making substantial payments to the accusers.
As part of the same lawsuit, Mongiardo also dismissed Lobozzo’s complaint against his longtime city government adversary, David Gilmore, Paterson’s director of community improvements.
Lobozzo, his lawyer and Mayor Andre Sayegh could not be reached for comment for this story.
Gilmore said he knew all along that Lobozzo’s accusations would not be substantiated.
“There was nothing to it,” said Gilmore, who has his own lawsuit pending against the city. “A lot of what he said was all in his own mind. Unfortunately, there were people who believed what he said.”
Among the many allegations in Gilmore’s lawsuit are assertions that Lobozzo orchestrated a bogus sexual harassment complaint against Gilmore by another city employee. Paterson fired Gilmore several years ago, but he was reinstated after the New Jersey Civil Service Commission and an administrative law judge ruled in his favor.
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