A lawyer who says she was demoted for her support of former top prosecutor George Gascón’s reform policies has filed an amended complaint alleging that the adverse job action stripped her of the responsibilities and professional stature she held in the District Attorney’s Office.
Filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Tiffiny Blacknell, who is Black, also alleges in the second amended complaint that she was targeted for discriminatory treatment in the District Attorney’s Office because of her age, gender and race.
“These retaliatory acts created a hostile and humiliating work environment and were directly connected to Ms. Blacknell’s efforts to align the (District Attorney’s Office) with the interests of the community that she believed had been under-served by prior administrations,” according to the revised complaint, which names as defendants the District Attorney’s Office and its leader, Nathan Hochman.
The new complaint alleges discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, general retaliation, harassment based on age, gender and race, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation and a violation of the state Labor Code. All of the defamation claims in Blacknell’s initial suit were stricken on free-speech grounds.
The amended suit was filed just a day after Judge Richard L. Fruin awarded $53,030 in attorneys’ fees to John Lewin, a prosecutor in the same office who was a defendant in the initial case and was sued for defamation along with the District Attorney’s Office and Hochman. Blacknell dismissed the part of the case against Lewin after Lewin won an anti-SLAPP motion.
The District Attorney’s Office and Hochman also won their anti-SLAPP motions and were previously awarded $40,530 and $12,500, respectively. The state’s anti-SLAPP statute is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
Blacknell, 49, is a former deputy public defender who was hired by the county in 2002. Her revised suit states that her transfer to the District Attorney’s Office by Gascón and her filling of various roles there, including chief of staff, “placed her in the crosshairs for attack” by those who opposed Gascón’s attempts to make changes.
“Blacknell quickly became the target of intense and unfounded attacks from within the prosecutor’s office that came from the mainstream as well as the social media, ranging from the mundane to outright threats,” her attorneys wrote.
“In particular, Ms. Blacknell’s vocal opposition to police brutality and the historic failure of the (District Attorney’s Office) to hold law enforcement accountable for brutality and killings triggered fierce backlash from those that opposed the (agency’s) evolving values under DA Gascón,” the amended complaint states.
Lewin called Blacknell “corrupt,” “crazy,” a “police-hating nut job” and “unqualified” while also contending that “two dogs were more qualified to be a prosecutor,” her original suit alleged. In announcing his campaign, Hochman called Blacknell “the worst chief of staff in Los Angeles County history” and the most “unqualified, pro-criminal chief of staff in Los Angeles County history,” the original suit further contended.
Blacknell suffered a “cardiac event” in October 2024, sought psychiatric treatment, took a leave of absence a month later and was demoted by Hochman to a subordinate position back with the Public Defender’s Office, according to her suit.
In a sworn declaration in support of his anti-SLAPP motion, Hochman defended his remarks concerning Blacknell.
“When I used phrases such as `worst chief of staff’ or `most unqualified, pro-criminal chief of staff,’ I intended those as political value judgments and rhetorical characterizations in the context of public debate, not as literal or provably true/false factual assertions,” Hochman said.
Hochman further said his opinions were based on public information available at the time, including Blacknell’s own public statements and appearances, media coverage and other materials in the public domain. Hochman added that he did not “author, direct, edit, approve, encourage or coordinate any public statements” by Lewin about Blacknell.