Fox News appeals defamation ruling over election claims, countersues Smartmatic

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fox News on Thursday appealed a judge’s selection to permit voting devices enterprise Smartmatic go after a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit alleging that the network falsely accused it of rigging the 2020 U.S. presidential election from incumbent Donald Trump.

The community, section of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp, also countersued Smartmatic to recoup authorized costs, indicating the lawsuit was designed to stifle its constitutionally guarded correct to inform viewers about newsworthy gatherings.

Thursday’s submitting arrived nine times after Justice David Cohen of the New York Condition Supreme Court docket in Manhattan discovered a “sizeable foundation” to advise that the community “turned a blind eye to a litany of outrageous statements” about Smartmatic, evincing a “reckless disregard” for the truth of the matter.

“It is ironic that Fox claims that Smartmatic’s lawsuit is without foundation” just after that choice, Smartmatic’s law firm J. Erik Connolly said in an e-mail. He stated courts all around the country reviewing very similar statements “are expressing a thing very diverse.”

Smartmatic accused Fox Information and numerous on-air personalities in its February 2021 lawsuit of decimating its small business with a bogus narrative that its election computer software assisted Democrat Joe Biden steal the 2020 election from Trump, a Republican.

The Florida-based corporation said Fox Information did this to cater to Trump supporters, boost rankings and keep viewers from defecting to the smaller sized suitable-wing networks Newsmax and Just one The usa News.

In Thursday’s filings, Fox News referred to as the $2.7 billion damages assert “pure fiction.”

It cited a report by College of Chicago regulation professor Daniel Fischel that Smartmatic had been a “failing business” with $82.8 million of losses in excess of 5 years and four straight several years of declining earnings.

Fox News also claimed Smartmatic’s promises violated New York’s November 2020 “anti-SLAPP” legislation, quick for “strategic lawsuits versus public participation” and intended to safeguard journalists from frivolous lawsuits designed to harass critics.

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“New York’s anti-SLAPP statute was designed for lawsuits like this one particular,” Fox Information mentioned. “The finest way to deter baseless attacks on the freedoms of speech and efforts to chill the press is to deliver strong safety for speech on matters of public concern.”

In a different situation, a federal judge on March 11 rejected Trump’s bid to invoke the anti-SLAPP regulation towards E. Jean Carroll, a writer who explained Trump defamed her in 2019 by denying he raped her in the mid-1990s.

Cohen also let Smartmatic sue anchor Maria Bartiromo and former anchor Lou Dobbs and go after some statements in opposition to previous Trump law firm and on-air guest Rudy Giuliani.

In December, a Delaware choose turned down Fox News’ try to dismiss a related $1.6 billion lawsuit by an additional voting know-how company, Dominion Voting Units.

The situation is Smartmatic United states Corp et al v Fox Corp et al, New York State Supreme Courtroom, New York County, No. 151136/2021.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York editing by Jonathan Oatis)