Judge lets Smartmatic expand 2020 election defamation suit against Newsmax
Signage for the Newsmax conservative television broadcasting network is displayed at a broadcast TV booth at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center
By Marshall Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — A Delaware judge on Wednesday rejected Newsmax’s attempt to throw out part of a defamation case brought by the election technology company Smartmatic against the right-wing network.
Smartmatic sued Newsmax after the network repeatedly aired false claims about the 2020 election — specifically the lie that the company’s software was involved in an international plot to rig the presidential election against Donald Trump. The company later updated its lawsuit to add 26 additional examples of alleged defamation, claiming it found the new material during the discovery process, when Newsmax turned over “hundreds of hours” of broadcasts.
Newsmax, a smaller pro-Trump network, denies the allegations.
The ruling on Wednesday from Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis means those additional allegations will remain in the lawsuit, in a blow to Newsmax.
The case is just one of several pending defamation suits tied to Trump’s election lies.
Smartmatic is also suing Fox News for $2.7 billion over the right-wing network’s airing of baseless conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election. Dominion Voting Systems, another voting technology company that settled a defamation suit against Fox News for a historic $787 million, is also suing Newsmax over the false claims.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
