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Fox News filed a motion for summary judgment Tuesday, attacking voting machine company Smartmatic’s demand for $2.7 billion in damages in its defamation suit against the conservative-leaning news channel.In 2023, Fox News paid $787.5 million to settle a separate defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over its reporting on President Trump’s false claims of election fraud in 2020.But “Smartmatic is not Dominion,” according to the Fox News legal team.Fox News’ filing in New York Supreme Court says the network’s coverage of Trump’s false election fraud allegations did not hurt Smartmatic’s business.
The Boca Raton, Fla.-based Smartmatic, which does business in 40 countries, countered that Fox News’ conduct has cost 100 people their jobs at the company and billions of dollars in asset value.The company filed its defamation suit in 2021.But Fox News argued that Smartmatic already had a poor reputation, saying the company provided election services to a “corrupt regime in Venezuela for more than a decade” and “has always faced difficulties finding governments willing to work with it.” “While Smartmatic claims scores of lost contract opportunities, there is no evidence that Fox News’s coverage caused a single former, existing or potential customer to refuse to do business with Smartmatic,” the court filing said.
Hollywood Inc.The network and the voting machine equipment company reached a confidential settlement just as jury selection was scheduled to begin ahead of their expected trial.Eric Connolly, an attorney representing Smartmatic, called Fox’s argument “a deflection.”“This is exactly the kind of tactic you expect from an abuser,” Connolly said in a statement.
“Rather than take responsibility, they try to blame the victim.They are attacking Smartmatic to distract from the central issue: they defamed the company and caused serious harm.”Smartmatic was frequently mentioned when Trump’s lawyers Rudy Giuliani...