He took on MARTA and a fledgling Buckhead bar. He took on a cop who ticketed him for not using a turn signal. Then he battled the judge who backed the officer. He took on the city over water, sewer and garbage bills.

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Photo courtesy Georgia Supreme Court (ENLARGE)

Appearing before the Supreme Court of Georgia last year, attorney John Woodham argues against the use of school tax money for improvements for the proposed Atlanta Beltline project.

(ENLARGE)

Plaintiff John F. Woodham's notice of appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia in his case to ban using school tax funding to pay for the proposed Beltline.

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All those were warm-ups for John Woodham's biggest fight, one that might have seemed a quixotic campaign: his lawsuit challenging funding for the Atlanta Beltline.

The 22-mile civic renewal project mixing green space, development and transit had the vigorous support of City Hall, developers and many community organizations. But this month, the Atlanta lawyer toppled those backers' hopes when the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously agreed with his interpretation of state law — ruling that a projected $850 million in school taxes can't be used to build parks, transit and affordable housing on the Beltline.

That decision collapsed the girders under the $2.8 billion development and other projects using the same scheme. It also left many Atlantans fuming at Woodham.

One blogger called him the Grinch. Others said he was a "rich, bored Buckhead lawyer" who "basically just flipped the rest of us the ultimate bird and gone on his way."

But he has his blogosphere admirers. "It looks like Mr. Buckhead was not a crazy malcontent after all," one said.

Woodham might seem to be an unlikely champion of protecting school taxes channeled toward development. He's a real estate lawyer who has earned a living representing developers. Further, he doesn't have kids, nor is he a product of public schools. He attended Westminster, an upscale private school.

Woodham, a 42-year-old resident of the Garden Hills neighborhood in Buckhead, isn't eager to explain his two-year legal campaign. Or accept the limelight. He declined to be interviewed for this story and discouraged friends and acquaintances from commenting.

"The law's the great equalizer" was all he'd venture when asked about beating City Hall. "The law allows citizens to do this."

Woodham appeared at ease before the Supreme Court last year, arguing with a smooth, steady pace and with a straightforward plea: "The school district has neither the legislative discretion nor the constitutional authority to waste away ... school tax funds."

Woodham has a master's in business administration and a University of Georgia law degree and has worked for some high-powered Atlanta law firms, including Paul, Hastings Janofsky & Walker and the former Long Aldridge & Norman. Now he's out on his own and cuts a more casual figure.

During a recent weekday afternoon, an unshaven Woodham, dressed in an old fleece jacket and battered ballcap, returned from lunch carrying a piece of Fellini's pizza and a Creative Loafing. He drives a Land Rover adorned with a "W" bumper sticker with a slash through it.

He attended Washington & Lee University, a school steeped in Southern tradition, and is listed as a trustee of the Watson-Brown Foundation, a nonprofit heritage organization that gives college scholarships to Southern students. It is named for Tom Watson, a controversial Georgia politician and publisher.

Some of Woodham's neighbors see him as a welcome guardian against overdevelopment. Atlanta City Councilman Howard Shook said, "He's the dog wandering the junkyard on behalf of the neighborhood."

Others call him a "mystery."

Betty Rainwater has for years lived three doors down from Woodham on East Wesley Road. "I didn't know what he looked like until I saw him at City Hall" at a hearing last year, she said.

Rainwater was fighting against a traffic project along East Wesley.

Woodham's efforts years ago against another developer helped bring about the roadwork, designed to slow traffic.

Many residents complained they lost parking after lanes were narrowed.

Woodham's home is one of the few with spaces in front for on-street parking, a fact that irks neighbors like Rainwater. His Craftsman-style home he bought 10 years ago is listed for sale as a teardown for $379,000. Online ads tout the "new sidewalks and traffic calming."

John Sherman, president of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, which dropped a suit concerning the Beltline last year for cost reasons, has met often with Woodham but knows little about him or even why he was involved in the suit.

"He never really told me. He's a very private person," Sherman said. "He doesn't brag. He just gets the job done and walks out of town."

Greg Clark has also spent many hours alongside Woodham but knows little about him. In 1999, the two served on a neighborhood committee negotiating with a developer MARTA hired for a commercial and residential project near the Lindbergh station. Residents argued it would worsen traffic and pushed for concessions such as reduced parking and money for neighborhood improvements.

Clark said Woodham's "baby face" belies his tenacity. "He's a tough negotiator," he said. "He can get irritable if the issue drags on. He won't back down. He won't back off. He follows through on things he thinks are righteous."

The two split forces when Woodham sued MARTA in federal court. Woodham lost.

In the Beltline suit, Woodham argued the state constitution does not allow school property taxes to be used for anything other than schools.

According to the Beltline plan, additional property taxes raised in that district over the next 25 years would help finance the project.

Woodham long has had a knack for getting in the way of things.

In 1983, he played in the state soccer championship for Westminster Schools. As sweeper, he and the goalie were the last line of defense. They won in a shutout.

In 2001, an Atlanta police officer pulled Woodham over at 1:30 a.m. for not using his turn signal. Woodham got a ticket. The city got a headache. Woodham fought the case in traffic court, arguing the officer cited the wrong code section. Woodham lost. He went to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

"Most people just come in and pay the fine," former city prosecutor Craig Miller said. "That's the most minor thing I can recall somebody appealing."

In 2005, Woodham argued against a parking variance for a proposed bar in the Buckhead Village area. A city board voted to allow it. Woodham filed suit. It was later dropped when the owner, Michael Kamalian, sold the building out of frustration.

Kamalian claims that developers assembling properties for a massive project there were behind Woodham's suit.

"They were trying to delay me and delay me and delay me, which they did," Kamalian said. "I see him as a pawn. He doesn't come up with this stuff himself."

But two years before that suit, Woodham indicated that he, like many of his neighbors, was growing weary of the increasingly rowdy Buckhead Village. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he frequented Fado and Mike 'N Angelo's, but the bar scene "is now drawing a crowd that's detrimental to themselves and the surrounding neighborhoods."

Veteran real estate attorney Carl Westmoreland often represents developers in disputes with neighborhood groups. He said Woodham stands out because of his tenacity and ingenuity. Having an endless appetite for community causes isn't easy.

Said Westmoreland, "It obviously takes a lot of time to be the neighborhood champion, as I'm sure he would describe himself."