Newsmax and voting technology firm Smartmatic reached a settlement in their defamation lawsuit on Thursday.
The last-minute agreement came just as jury selection began in a Delaware courtroom, with opening statements slated for Monday, according to CNN. Details of the settlement remain undisclosed, but Newsmax confirmed the resolution Thursday afternoon.
“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” the network said in a statement.
Smartmatic and Newsmax have reached a settlement in the voting technology company’s election defamation lawsuit against the right-wing news outlet shortly before the case was set to go to trial. https://t.co/A8maTJijbT
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 26, 2024
The trial would have been the first among several lawsuits filed against conservative media outlets following the 2020 election, CNN reported. It was set to establish whether Newsmax defamed Smartmatic by falsely claiming their machines manipulated election results to disadvantage former President Donald Trump.
“We are very pleased to have secured the completion of the case against Newsmax,” Smartmatic wrote on X. “We are now looking forward to our court day against Fox Corp and Fox News for their disinformation campaign. Lying to the American people has consequences. Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable.”
Smartmatic issued legal notices in December 2020 to Fox News, One America News, and Newsmax, accusing them of propagating a “disinformation campaign.” The voting technology firm alleges that these networks disseminated defamatory assertions, including by suggesting Smartmatic facilitated election rigging to favor Biden and falsely linking the company to George Soros and former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
“Smartmatic unsurprisingly chose to settle its case with Newsmax on the eve of trial after a series of major setbacks devastated its case. Those setbacks included: the fact that Smartmatic’s President and Co-Founder, as well as one current and one former executive, were federally indicted for bribery in obtaining key businesses in the Philippines; Smartmatic was forced to cut its damage claims from $1.7 billion to $370 million to avoid evidence of those indictments; and the Delaware Judge ruled that Smartmatic could not recover punitive damages,” Fox News told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Smartmatic’s claims against Fox are similarly impaired, unsupported by the facts and intended to chill First Amendment freedoms. We look forward to defending this case when it goes to trial.”
Smartmatic later filed defamation lawsuits in November 2021 against Newsmax Media and Herring Networks, the owner of One America News Network, over their coverage of the 2020 presidential election. Newsmax denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the First Amendment protects their coverage, CNN stated.
Smartmatic had initially sought damages amounting to billions but scaled back its claims to approximately $370 million amid pretrial developments, according to CNN. The reduction followed a ruling by Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who limited Smartmatic’s claims to provable losses and excluded punitive damages.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from Fox News.
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