Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News settled their historic defamation lawsuit shortly before trial last year, with Fox paying a whopping $787.5 million for the network’s lies about the voting machine company and the 2020 presidential election.
As Election Day 2024 approaches, another defamation lawsuit stemming from the 2020 election — also brought by a voting technology company against a Republican-leaning outlet — could go before a jury, with a trial set for Sept. 30. On Thursday, a Delaware judge’s ruling pushed Smartmatic’s civil case against Newsmax into that potential courtroom.
Smartmatic has alleged that Newsmax broadcast and published false statements and implications that the company participated in a criminal conspiracy to manipulate, rig and steal the presidential election, which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden. Newsmax has argued, among other things, that it was protected by the First Amendment and was simply reporting on issues of public interest raised by Trump and others.
In a preliminary ruling Thursday, Judge Eric Davis — the same judge who presided over Dominion’s case against Fox News — said it would be up to a jury to decide whether Newsmax intentionally concealed the truth and defamed Smartmatic. Davis noted that the jury could award punitive damages if it found against Newsmax.
Of course, as the Dominion-Fox settlement reminds us, it’s still a question of whether the case will go to a jury, or what the settlement would be. But the pretrial ruling is a reminder that, as November approaches, the litigation stemming from the last election — whether it’s criminal litigation in Trump’s case(s) and others, or civil litigation like this one — is far from over.
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
