By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -Smartmatic has settled a lawsuit accusing right-wing television network One America News of defamation by falsely claiming the voting technology company rigged the 2020 U.S. presidential election to help Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump.
The terms of the settlement are confidential, Smartmatic’s attorney Erik Connolly said, but the company voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit filed in 2021 against OAN in Washington, DC.
Smartmatic had estimated that OAN’s false claims had wiped out much of its company value, reducing it from more than $3 billion to less than $1 billion.
Chip Babcock, an attorney for OAN, also confirmed the settlement without providing details.
The lawsuit was one of several accusations by right-wing or conservative-leaning media of spreading lies about the election to increase viewership and advertising revenue.
Smartmatic still has lawsuits against Fox News and Newsmax over their election coverage. It is seeking $2.7 billion in the Fox lawsuit.
Last April, voting technology company Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787.5 million settlement with Fox as opening statements in a trial were about to begin.
OAN positioned itself to the right of Fox and Newsmax, at times pushing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and vaccine safety.
It took a financial hit in 2022 when Verizon and AT&T’s DirecTV dropped their programming.
Smartmatic, based in Boca Raton, Florida, accused OAN of causing irreparable harm by “spreading disinformation” about the election and its technology.
San Diego-based OAN has eroded trust in the democratic process and reneged on a pledge by Charles Herring, chairman of owner Herring Networks, to provide “reliable, credible, fact-based news with substance.”
In court filings, OAN said awarding more than $2 billion to Smartmatic would silence “an additional, albeit conservative, voice” of what the U.S. Supreme Court has called the “marketplace of ideas” protected by the First Amendment.
Trump, a Republican, hopes to retake the White House from Biden, a Democrat, in a November rematch.
The case is Smartmatic USA Corp et al v. Herring Networks Inc, US District Court, District of Columbia, No. 21-02900.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; additional reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Stephen Coates)
