Current:Home > StocksSmartmatic’s suit against Newsmax over 2020 election reporting appears headed for trial -Infinite Edge Capital
Smartmatic’s suit against Newsmax over 2020 election reporting appears headed for trial
View
Date:2025-04-18 18:10:15
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A lawsuit pitting an electronic voting machine manufacturer that was targeted by allies of former President Donald Trump against a conservative news outlet that aired accusations of vote manipulation in the 2020 election appears headed to trial, following a Delaware judge’s ruling Thursday.
Florida-based Smartmatic is suing Newsmax, claiming the cable network’s hosts and guests made false and defamatory statements after the election implying that Smartmatic participated in rigging the results, and that its software was used to switch votes.
Newsmax, also based in Florida, argues that it was simply reporting on serious and newsworthy allegations being made by Trump and his supporters, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani and conservative attorney Sidney Powell.
Attorneys for both sides asked Superior Court Judge Eric Davis to rule in their favor without holding a trial, which is scheduled to start Sept. 30. On Thursday, Davis granted partial summary judgment to each side but said a jury must decide several key issues.
“Statements regarding Smartmatic software or voting machines altering the results of the election are factually false,” wrote Davis, who noted that Smartmatic did not provide any election machines or software used in the 2020 election outside of Los Angeles.
However, the judge said that not every allegedly defamatory statement published by Newsmax, including statements about Smartmatic’s ties to Venezuela and its late president Hugo Chavez, has been shown to be materially false.
“Therefore, the court will allow Newsmax to contest falsity as to Smartmatic’s connections with Venezuela,” he wrote.
In court papers, Newsmax has described Smartmatic as “a struggling election technology company with a checkered history” that is using a legally baseless and unconstitutional theory of liability to try to obtain a massive windfall.
Last month, a federal grand jury in Florida indicted three current and former executives of Smartmatic in a scheme to pay more than $1 million in bribes to put its voting machines in the Philippines. Prosecutors allege that Smartmatic’s Venezuelan-born co-founder, Roger Piñate, colluded with others to funnel bribes to the chairman of the Philippines’ electoral commission using a slush fund created by overcharging for each voting machine it supplied authorities.
In a favorable ruling for Newsmax, Davis rejected Smartmatic’s claim that the news outlet acted with “express malice” under Florida law, meaning that its primary motivation was to injure Smartmatic.
“There is no evidence that Newsmax acted with evil intent towards Smartmatic,” the judge wrote.
Davis previously ruled that Smartmatic is a “limited public figure” for purposes of defamation and must show that Newsmax acted with “actual malice” by knowingly and recklessly disregarding the truth. On Thursday, he said actual malice is an issue for a jury, and that a jury also must decide whether Smartmatic is entitled to damages.
In another blow to Smartmatic, Davis said Newsmax can argue that it is protected from liability under Florida’s “neutral reporting privilege,” which extends to “disinterested and neutral reporting” on matters of public concern. Newsmax argues that the privilege applies because many of the allegedly defamatory statements were made by third parties appearing as guests, or were rebroadcast after being made by third parties on non-Newsmax platforms.
“With these facts, a reasonable jury could find Newsmax was reporting on a matter of public concern without endorsing the allegations surrounding the election,” he wrote, adding that a jury could also find that Newsmax’s reporting was not neutral.
Davis also said Newsmax could assert a “fair reporting privilege” regarding reporting by White House correspondent Emerald Robinson about a whistleblower affidavit filed in a Georgia lawsuit challenging the election results. The affidavit involved claims by Powell that Smartmatic had colluded with the Venezuelan government in that country’s 2013 presidential election.
Newsmax argues that Florida’s fair reporting privilege applies to accurate reporting on judicial proceedings, including court records, and that Robinson was reporting on the contents of an affidavit filed in federal court. Smartmatic contends that the affidavit was not signed or sworn, and therefore not an official document. Davis said a jury must decide whether the fair reporting privilege applies to Robinson, who erroneously reported that the affidavit was sworn.
The Delaware lawsuit, which takes issue with 24 Newsmax reports over a five-week period in late 2020, is one of several stemming from reports by conservative news outlets following the election. Smartmatic also is suing Fox News for defamation in New York and recently settled a lawsuit in the District of Columbia against the One America News Network, another conservative outlet.
Dominion Voting Systems similarly filed several defamation lawsuits against those who spread conspiracy theories blaming its election equipment for Trump’s loss. Last year, in a case presided over by Davis, Fox News settled with Dominion for $787 million.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- Snuggle up With the BaubleBar Blanket Everyone Has on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
- Hundreds protest and clash with police in a Russian region after an activist is sentenced to prison
- US Justice Department to release report on halting police response to Uvalde school massacre
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Brothers elected mayors of neighboring New Jersey towns
- Trinidad police are investigating a shooting that killed 3 people and wounded 5 others
- Gunmen abduct volunteer searcher looking for her disappeared brother, kill her husband and son
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- 3M now issuing payments to vets as part of $6 billion settlement over earplugs
Ranking
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Man accused of using golf club to fatally impale Minnesota store clerk ruled incompetent for trial
- Illinois House speaker assembles lawmakers to recommend help for migrant crisis
- Mila De Jesus' Husband Breaks Silence After Influencer’s Death
- New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
- Former No. 1 tennis player Arantxa Sánchez Vicario guilty of fraud, but will avoid prison
- The Silver Jewelry Trend Is Back in 2024: Shop the Pieces You Need
- No problems found with engine of news helicopter that crashed in New Jersey, killing 2, report says
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
3 Washington state officers acquitted in death of Manuel Ellis will each receive $500K to leave department
Proof You've Been Pronouncing Travis Kelce's Name Wrong This Whole Time
Lorne Michaels Reveals Who May Succeed Him at Saturday Night Live
John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
2024 NFL draft order: Top 24 first-round selections set after wild-card playoffs
More Americans are getting colon cancer, and at younger ages. Scientists aren't sure why.
Houthis continue attacks in Red Sea even after series of U.S. military strikes