A contentious libel suit against Black Lives Matter Sacramento by a capital region businesswoman was dismissed late Monday after the plaintiff decided not to pursue the case any longer.
Real estate investor Karra Crowley’s lawsuit against BLM Sacramento and its founder, Tanya Faison, appeared to have been settled last week after an agreement under which Faison posted an apology video after BLM Sacramento’s Facebook page accused Crowley of racist posts that had been sent by someone impersonating her more than two years ago.
But questions arose over whether Crowley would allow the suit to be dismissed after Faison issued a news release saying BLM Sacramento had been bullied into the apology.
“It is not heartfelt,” Faison said in a second video posted after the apology. “I don’t think that it’s even warranted, but it’s something I had to do to get past … and move on to the work and keep focused on the work and not worry about this case anymore.”
Crowley attorney Jeffrey Ochrach said last week that the news release “completely violates the spirit of our settlement agreement” and that Crowley was reconsidering whether to pursue the lawsuit further.
Monday afternoon, however, court filings showed the case had been closed, and Ochrach confirmed in an email that Crowley had decided not to go any further with the dispute.
The lawsuit stemmed from a series of racist messages sent to BLM Sacramento by someone using Crowley’s name and a burner email account that appeared to belong to her. Officials later determined the sender was a former tenant of Crowley’s who had been evicted, court papers and Crowley said.
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