Smartmatic’s defamation case against Newsmax over 2020 election headed toward civil trial

Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News settled their historic defamation case just before trial last year, with Fox shelling out a whopping $787.5 million for the network’s lies about the voting machine company and the 2020 presidential election. 

Now, as Election Day nears in the 2024 contest, another defamation case stemming from the 2020 election — likewise brought by a voting technology company against a Republican-friendly outlet — could go to a jury, with trial set for Sept. 30. On Thursday, a ruling by a Delaware judge pushed Smartmatic’s civil case against Newsmax toward that possible courtroom reckoning.

Smartmatic has alleged that Newsmax aired and published false statements and implications that the company participated in a criminal conspiracy to fix, rig and steal the presidential election that Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden. Newsmax has argued, among other things, that it was protected by the First Amendment and simply was reporting on issues of public importance raised by Trump and others.

In a pretrial ruling Thursday, Judge Eric Davis — the same judge who presided over Dominion’s case against Fox News — said that it will be up to a jury to decide whether Newsmax purposefully avoided the truth and defamed Smartmatic. Davis noted that the jury will be allowed to award punitive damages if it finds against Newsmax.

Of course, as the Dominion-Fox settlement reminds us, whether the case gets to a jury, or what a settlement would be, remains to be seen. But the pretrial ruling is a reminder that, as November nears, litigation stemming from the last election — whether criminal proceedings in the case(s) of Trump and others, or civil as here — is far from over.

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