Maury Blackman
SAN FRANCISCO — A Bay Area tech CEO, whose companies have long worked under sometimes secretive high level government software and surveillance contracts, can't revive his $25 million defamation lawsuit against a reporter for publishing details about the CEO's domestic violence arrest, a state appeals court has ruled.
On Sept. 29, a three-justice panel of the California First District Appellate Court rejected the appeal of Maury Blackman, agreeing with a San Francisco Superior Court judge that Blackman's lawsuit against news and commentary platform Substack and reporter Jack Poulson isn't allowed under California law or the First Amendment.
"The press is responsible for reporting on government operations, including those of the police, and, by publicly releasing the incident report without restriction, the government impliedly determined its dissemination was in the public interest," the justices wrote in the decision.
"The government cannot fairly punish a media defendant for relying on that determination.
"... While we are mindful that the United States Supreme Court has purposefully proceeded on a case-by-case basis in this sensitive area of law and none of the high court’s prior opinions is factually on all fours with this case, we conclude that the First Amendment protects the lawfully obtained truthful publication of the information at issue..." they said.
The decision marks another key moment in the high profile defamation cased Blackman lodged against Poulson and Substack over Poulson's 2023 article revealing Blackman's arrest.
Poulson, through his Substack newsletter, All-Source Intelligence, had long reported on Blackman and his company, Premise Data.
Premise had for years utilized so-called gig workers in America and around the world to gather a range of real-world data. However, a lawsuit lodged by Blackman against some former Premise employees confirmed long believed reports that Premise operations were also assisting the U.S. government in gathering intelligence around the world in support of regime change and other special operations carried out by the U.S. military and intelligence agencies.
In 2023, however, Poulson reportedly received an unsolicited, encrypted email containing a San Francisco Police incident report detailing Blackman's 2021 arrest for domestic violence.
After confirming the authenticity of the report and its details with the San Francisco Police Department, Poulson published an article discussing the report and the potential implications for Blackman's federal security clearance.
According to court documents, Poulson claims he was swiftly contacted by someone claiming to represent Blackman, who allegedly asked him to take down the article, asserting the police report concerning Blackman had been placed under seal by a judge and should have not been available to the public.
According to court documents, that person connected to Blackman allegedly also offered to pay Poulson to take the article down.
Poulson reportedly refused.
Blackman departed Premise Data in December 2023.
And Blackman followed up with a lawsuit claiming Poulson had violated his privacy rights and had violated California law by publishing the article reporting on the sealed police report.
Separately, according to published reports, Blackman allegedly enlisted the help of San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu to try to force Poulson to take the story down. That effort was called out and resisted in court by First Amendment advocates. The dispute over Chiu's intervention ended in a settlement.
In court, Poulson and Substack argued the lawsuit was without merit, as Poulson's reporting was truthful and in the public interest, concerning a law enforcement interaction with the head of a company already in the news and in the public eye for performing high-level national security and intelligence gathering work for the U.S. government.
Poulson further argued he had not violated any law by publishing the contents of an authenticated official government document he had obtained from a third-party source.
Poulson and Substack argued Blackman's lawsuit amounted to an illegal attempt by Blackman to silence journalistic reporting that places him in a negative light. They particularly asserted the lawsuit violated California law against so-called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Particiation (SLAPP).
A San Francisco County Superior Court judge agreed, and dismissed the lawsuit, ordering Blackman to pay $400,000 in legal fees to Poulson and Substack.
Blackman appealed, however, continuing to argue Poulson had violated the law and should pay.
But the First District appeals justices said they believed the case backs the finding that Blackman's lawsuit was an improper SLAPP and should be dismissed.
They agreed that it was clear the report was truthful; that Poulson had legally obtained the police report; and the report involved a newsworthy matter of public interest.
They further agreed Substack was protected by federal law from being sued, as the company operates merely an online platform for publishing, and is not a publisher with editorial control over Poulson's article.
The court also upheld the attorney's fees.
The decision was authored by Justice Tracie L. Brown, with concurrence by Justice Danny Chou and Marin County Superior Court Judge Andrew E. Sweet, who was sitting on the panel by designation.
Blackman is represented by attorneys David Marek and Ami Sanghvi, of The Marek Law Firm.
Poulson is represented by attorneys David Greene and Victoria Noble.
And Substack is represented by attorneys Joshua A. Baskin and Thomas R. Wakefield, of the firm of Wilson Sonsini.
