The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has been awarded more than $25,000 in attorneys’ fees and related costs stemming from the 2025 dismissal of defamation allegations filed by a lawyer who says she was demoted for her support of former top prosecutor George Gascón’s reform policies.
Former Deputy District Attorney Tiffiny Blacknell, who is Black, also alleges she was targeted due to her race, age and gender. She filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the county, the District Attorney’s Office, District Attorney Nathan Hochman and Deputy District Attorney John Lewin.
On Wednesday, Judge Richard L. Fruin awarded the county about $26,740 in attorneys’ fees and another $2,000 in costs for having been a prevailing party in the anti-SLAPP motion. The judge is scheduled to hear Hochman’s request for attorneys fees on Feb. 3.
Hochman and Lewin both contended that any comments they made were protected statements of opinion.
Fruin granted the anti-SLAPP motion on Dec. 3 and additionally dismissed Blacknell’s causes of action against Lewin for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 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 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.”
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 suit alleges. 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 suit further contends.
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 the 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.