Fox’s bid to dismiss a US$2.7 billion (A$4.36 billion) defamation lawsuit filed by electronic voting company Smartmatic has been rejected by an appeals court in the state of New York.
Smartmatic filed its suit in 2021, alleging Fox News hosts and guests’ on-air comments damaged the reputation of the company and its voting machines following the 2020 United States presidential election. Fox has said these comments qualified as free speech under the Constitution’s first amendment.
Smartmatic subpoenaed four members of Fox’s board in June. “Smartmatic plans to pursue Fox’s board members as well to determine why they allowed the company’s most valuable asset, Fox News, to spread disinformation about the 2020 election,” Smartmatic’s lead attorney J. Erik Connolly said at the time.
As part of this effort, Smartmatic received subpoenaed communications from other Fox board members, including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch. The trial is set to take place this year.
The voting machine company also sued right-wing television channel Newsmax, saying it had falsely reported Smartmatic manipulated the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favour.
Newsmax settled for an undisclosed amount in September.
A similar US$1.6 billion lawsuit was filed by Dominion Voting Systems, another voting machine company, against Fox in 2021. Dominion argued Fox had knowingly promoted false allegations that Dominion’s voting equipment committed election fraud in Biden’s favour in 2020.
Fox agreed to settle Dominion’s lawsuit for US$787.5 million in April 2023.
Fox’s (NASDAQ: FOX) share price closed at US$46.61, down from its previous close at $46.81. Its market capitalisation is $21.81 billion.
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