Judge Rejects Fox News’ Motion To Dismiss Smartmatic Defamation Lawsuit
deadline.comA New York judge has denied Fox News’ efforts to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by election systems company Smartmatic.Judge David Cohen also declined to dismiss claims against host Maria Bartiromo and former host Lou Dobbs, while tossing out claims against Jeanine Pirro and a guest on Fox News in the aftermath of the 2020 election, attorney Sidney Powell.
Some of the claims against another guest, Rudy Giuliani, also were thrown out.Smartmatic sued Fox News and other defendants for $2.7 billion, claiming that they falsely tarred them with rigging the 2020 presidential election.“Even assuming that Fox News did not intentionally allow this false narrative to be broadcasted, there is a substantial basis for plaintiffs’ claim that, at a minimum, Fox News turned a blind eye to a litany of outrageous claims about plaintiffs, unprecedented in the history of American elections, so inherently improbable that it evinced a reckless disregard for the truth,” Cohen wrote in his 61-page opinion. (Read it here).Fox News Media plans to appeal.“While we are gratified that Judge Cohen dismissed Smartmatic’s claims against Jeanine Pirro at this early stage, we still plan to appeal the ruling immediately,” the company said in a statement. “We will also continue to litigate these baseless claims by filing a counterclaim for fees and costs under New York’s anti-SLAPP statute to prevent the full-blown assault on the First Amendment which stands in stark contrast to the highest tradition of American journalism.”The network also is facing another defamation lawsuit from another company, Dominion Voting Systems, over post-2020 election claims.
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