LOS ANGELES (CN) — A California judge struck down a lawsuit Tuesday that sought to overturn the leadership of the Black Lives Matter organization.
Judge Stephanie Bowick handed down the decision in a 26-page minute order, apparently having come around on an anti-SLAPP motion that she appeared to discredit three months earlier at a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Short for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, anti-SLAPP laws support organizations that operate under the First Amendment — journalists, most prominently — from litigation that would otherwise discourage free speech and political activity.
Byron McLain, an attorney for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, told Judge Bowick in March that an anti-SLAPP motion was necessary here because his client faced a challenge over its fundraising and use of social media — both of which qualified as protected speech.
"Using funds, making representations to the public and using social media — the issues are with transparency, as to how my client is using their First Amendment rights," McLain said.
Black Lives Matter is considered a decentralized movement, lacking even a trademark to protect its name, but the foundation that McLain represents is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It has no authority over BLM's various chapters around the world, but it does control the website blacklivesmatter.com website, as well as the most prominent Black Lives Matter social media channels.
Critical to the lawsuit it faced, the group also receives millions of dollars a year in contributions, according to its own tax forms.
Black Lives Matter Grassroots brought the case in September, alleging that Shalomyah Bowers was using Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation as his "personal piggy bank," siphoning off more than $10 million.
BLM Grassroots is run by longtime progressive activist Melina Abdullah, a professor at California State University, Los Angeles, who founded the Black Lives Matter's first local chapter in Los Angeles.
She asserted in a court filing that Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder and former head of BLM Global Network Foundation, had been "positioning" Abdullah as her successor. Cullors stepped down in May 2021 after facing intense scrutiny by both local BLM chapters and conservative media outlets like Fox News over allegations that she had mismanaged $90 million in donations that the group collected amid the international response to the murder of George Floyd one year earlier.
"Within months, Bowers had run [two] well-respected advocates out of the organization," BLM Grassroots charged in its lawsuit. "Through a series of misrepresentations and unauthorized backroom dealings, Mr. Bowers managed to steal control over GNF as the sole Board member and officer."
Reached by phone Wednesday, BLM Global Network attorney Byron McLain said he was "very excited" about the ruling, and that the lawsuit was "absolutely frivolous."
"Either Melina Abdullah blatantly and intentional lied in order to garner salacious news headlines, or they simply failed to do their due diligence before making such wild allegations," McLain said. "And quite frankly, either is unacceptable."
In a written statement, Abdullah said, "Near the eve of the 10th anniversary of Black Lives Matter, the court has ruled against the will of the those who birthed, built, and fuel the movement and in favor of the (BLM) Global Network Foundation, which is in the hands of highly paid consultants who have never been on the frontlines." She said that BLM Grassroots would continue its work; her attorney, Justin Sanders, said it would "appeal the ruling immediately."
"The legal basis of this ruling is a terrible example of the letter and not the spirit of the law being followed," Sanders said in a statement, adding that Bowers and his lawyers were "using freedom of speech to shield thieves who are plundering the resources meant to support the boots on ground work of Black Lives Matter."
At a hearing in April, Abdullah said that the Black Lives Matter social media channels, under the control of Bowers, had become much more mainstream and less committed to the radical political causes she supports, like abolishing the police.
Meanwhile the board for BLM Global Network Foundation said it simply has a different version "abolitionist values" than Abdullah.
"Ours has been anchored in love, humanity, and care," the board said in a statement.
Bowers' attorneys released a statement Wednesday as well.
"Melina Adbullah and her colleagues spent over a year tearing down Shalomyah’s name, reputation, and character in an ill-fated ego-driven attempt to seize control of one of the most prominent charitable organizations supporting Black empowerment," they said. "In due time, Shalomyah will decide how to seek accountability for the impact this lawsuit had on him and his firm.”
Todd Trumper, an attorney for BLM Grassroots, had argued in the March hearing that the suit had nothing to do with free speech.
"The complaint is based on representations about the transition, what has been done with the money, and misappropriation," Trumper said. "We’re not challenging them for soliciting funds — that’s not the point of the complaint."
Judge Bowick noted at the time that allegations in the complaint weren't the type of activity contemplated by California's anti-SLAPP law. In the intervening months, she evidently changed her mind.
"The Court finds that Defendant BLM GNF meets its burden showing that Plaintiff’s claims arise from acts by Defendant BLM GNF in furtherance of Defendant BLM GNF’s right of petition or free speech under the United States Constitution or the California Constitution in connection with a public issue," the opinion states.
Bowick also said BLM Grassroots failed to establish "that it was entitled to any of the donated funds at issue or that Defendants have been enriched."
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