An afternoon after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation swimsuit introduced through Dominion Voting Systems, a Fox spokesperson mentioned Wednesday that the community will probably be “ready to defend” itself against a equivalent swimsuit from a 2d voting machine corporate.
The commentary got here after the corporate, Smartmatic, issued a commentary Tuesday reaffirming its dedication to its personal lawsuit within the wake of the historical Dominion agreement, pronouncing that “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest.”
“Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company in more than 50 countries, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy,” the commentary from Smartmatic’s legal professional, J. Erik Connolly, mentioned.
Fox replied in a commentary Wednesday, pronouncing, “We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025. As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”
Smartmatic, primarily based in Florida, is suing Fox News, Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, former Fox host Lou Dobbs, and Trump legal professional Rudy Giuliani for $2.7 billion. The swimsuit was once filed in February 2021.
At least seven defamation court cases involving Fox News or Dominion Voting Systems stay similar to claims that had been broadcast surrounding the 2020 election. Dominion continues to be pursuing six different defamation court cases against a bunch of different folks it mentioned additionally driven false claims, together with right-wing community Newsmax, and previous Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, amongst others.
“We’ve got some other people who have some accountability coming towards them,” Stephen Shakelford, Dominion’s legal professional, mentioned following the Fox News agreement Tuesday. “We’re not done yet.”
The prison group representing FOX News depart the Leonard Williams Justice Center the place Dominion Voting Systems was once suing FOX News for defamation after a agreement was once reached, Apr. 18, 2023, in Wilmington, Delaware.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Dominion had accused the conservative community of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that Dominion had rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s desire, in what Dominion claims was once an effort to struggle issues over declining scores and viewer retention.
In reaction to Dominion’s claims, Fox mentioned it was once merely reporting on newsworthy claims made through then-President Donald Trump and his allies — a sentiment they repeated of their commentary in regards to the Smartmatic swimsuit on Wednesday.
But Judge Eric Davis, who oversaw the Dominion case, necessarily blocked that protection, writing in a pre-trial ruling that it “fails to shield” Fox from legal responsibility and that the court docket “will not apply the privilege here.”
“Just because something is newsworthy doesn’t mean you can defame somebody,” Davis mentioned in court docket throughout a listening to within the Dominion case.
In a submitting within the case previous this week, Fox News wrote that it “denies the allegation of a disinformation campaign.”
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