Los Angeles County and the county’s District Attorney’s Office are asking a judge to dismiss once and for all a lawsuit by a lawyer who says she was demoted for her support of former District Attorney George Gascón’s reform policies, saying the plaintiff has failed in multiple attempts to shore up the suit’s deficiencies.
Tiffiny Blacknell, who is Black, also alleges in the third amended complaint that she was targeted for discriminatory treatment in the District Attorney’s Office because of her age, gender and race. In April, Judge Richard Fruin denied a defense motion to dismiss multiple claims against the defendants, but did say the allegations of harassment, general and whistleblower retaliation and violation of the state Labor Code needed more facts to support them.
But in court papers filed Wednesday in advance of an Oct. 1 hearing, defense attorneys contend the problems in Blacknell’s suit remain and her case should be dismissed.
“After over a year and four pleadings, plaintiff still cannot state any viable claim ,” the defense attorneys state in their court papers. ” … Because plaintiff has already amended her claims against the county three times and because plaintiff failed to remedy clear deficiencies highlighted by this court in its prior order … plaintiff has demonstrated that she cannot meet her burden to show a reasonable probability that amendment could cure these fundamental defects.”
Blacknell’s latest complaint does not allege any facts that the county had any rule or policy regarding restrictions to employees’ political activity or that banned employees from engaging in public political advocacy, according to the defense lawyers’ pleadings.
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 that generally favored criminal defendants.
Blacknell was the target of unfounded attacks from within the prosecutor’s office that were reported by the mainstream as well as the social media, 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.
Blacknell suffered a “cardiac event” in October 2024, sought psychiatric treatment, took a leave of absence a month later and was demoted by current District Attorney Nathan Hochman to a subordinate position back with the Public Defender’s Office, according to her suit.
But in their court papers, defense attorneys state that Blacknell’s own pleadings state that she was reassigned to another position upon Hochman’s election, which the same lawyers contend is common in any leadership transition.