Smartmatic Will Go To Trial Against Newsmax This Month: Here’s Where It And Dominion’s Other Lawsuits Stand
TOPLINE
Voting machine company Smartmatic will go to trial later this month against right-wing network Newsmax over claims made on the network after the 2020 election—possibly becoming the first trial in Smartmatic and rival Dominion Voting Systems’ series of defamation cases, as both companies have numerous cases pending against right-wing defendants over fraud claims involving the companies’ machines.
News anchors work at Newsmax’s booth during the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, … [+]
AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
Newsmax (Smartmatic): Smartmatic sued Newsmax in Delaware state court in November 2021, alleging it spread false claims against the voting company, which a judge allowed to move forward in February 2023; the case will go to trial September 30 unless a settlement is reached, after Judge Eric Davis refused Newsmax’s attempt to dismiss the case on Thursday.
Newsmax (Dominion): Dominion sued Newsmax in Delaware state court in August 2021, and Judge Eric Davis denied a motion to dismiss the suit in June 2022, finding the news network likely knew its allegations against Dominion were “probably false” and its reporting may have intentionally left out evidence showing Dominion wasn’t involved with election fraud; the case is set for trial in April 2025, according to court records.
OANN (Smartmatic): Smartmatic sued OANN in federal court in November 2021, alleging the network “reported a lie” and spread fraud claims about the company—whose machines were only used in California in 2020—knowing they were false; court records show the case was dismissed in April, with attorney Erik Connolly telling The Washington Post the case had been resolved through a “confidential settlement.”
OANN (Dominion): Dominion sued OANN in August 2021, alleging the far-right network promoted fraud allegations despite knowing they were false and “helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where … Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud;” U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols has allowed the case to move forward, and dismissed OANN’s counterclaims against Dominion in April.
Fox News (Smartmatic): Smartmatic sued Fox News and its anchors Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo in February 2021, alleging they “engaged in a conspiracy to spread disinformation about Smartmatic,” and after a New York state judge ruled in March 2022 that the $2.7 billion lawsuit could move forward against those defendants but not against anchor Jeanine Pirro, an appeals judge ruled in February 2023 to restore the claims against Pirro and denied Fox’s motion to dismiss; the case remains pending.
Fox News (Dominion): Fox and Dominion settled Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against the network in April 2023 for $787.5 million—right before the high-profile case was slated to go to trial.
Rudy Giuliani (Smartmatic): Smartmatic named Giuliani as a defendant in the first lawsuit it filed in February 2021; a New York state judge allowed some of its claims to move forward against him but not others before an appeals judge reinstated those claims in February 2023, and they remain pending.
Rudy Giuliani (Dominion): A federal judge has allowed Dominion’s case against Giuliani to move forward, declining to throw out the defamation lawsuit on technical procedural grounds as Giuliani had asked after the voting machine company sued him in January 2021, alleging he “enriche[d] himself by falsely claiming that Dominion fixed the election.”
Sidney Powell (Dominion): Dominion filed its first lawsuit in January 2021 against far-right attorney Powell, who has been the most prominent person spreading fraud claims involving the companies’ voting machines, seeking $1.3 billion in damages, and U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols denied Powell’s motion to dismiss the case in August 2021.
Sidney Powell (Smartmatic): Smartmatic named Powell as a defendant in a lawsuit in New York state court in April 2021, and while a judge ruled that case couldn’t move forward against her, the company has separately sued her in federal court, which remains pending.
Mike Lindell (Smartmatic): U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright denied MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s motion to dismiss Smartmatic’s case against him in September 2022, after Smartmatic sued MyPillow and Lindell in January 2022 for defamation and deceptive trade practices, alleging the CEO spread “lies” about the company and “intentionally stoked the fires of xenophobia and party-divide for the noble purpose of selling his pillows.”
Mike Lindell (Dominion): Denver-based Dominion separately sued Lindell and MyPillow for defamation in federal court, which a judge allowed to move forward in August 2021, with Dominion alleging the CEO “sells the lie” about the company’s voting machines “because the lie sells pillows.”
Patrick Byrne (Dominion): Dominion sued former Overstock CEO Byrne in August 2021, alleging the businessman “manufactured and promoted fake evidence to convince the world that the 2020 election had been stolen” using Dominion voting machines, and U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols denied Byrne’s motion to dismiss the case in April 2022, ruling “a reasonable jury could find Byrne acted with actual malice” in spreading provably false assertions about Dominion.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
It’s likely to be a while before other pending cases follow. The next trial—Dominion’s case against Newsmax— will be in April. Dominion’s cases against Powell, Giuliani, Lindell, Byrne and OANN don’t have a trial date set yet. A scheduling order was filed in April setting deadlines for pre-trial motions that stretch into January 2025, so a trial likely won’t take place until the middle of next year at the earliest.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Newsmax’s own people knew they had no proof that Smartmatic was involved in any type of fraud involving the 2020 election, and yet they continued to peddle that false narrative,” Smartmatic lawyer Erik Connolly said in a statement Thursday responding to the ruling on their case going to trial. “Newsmax must be held accountable to the fullest extent under law. We look forward to going to trial and presenting our case.”
BIG NUMBER
$1.6 billion. That’s approximately how much Dominion is asking for in damages against OANN, Byrne and Newsmax—the same amount it asked for against Fox News, which ultimately ended up being far lower when the case was settled. Its lawsuits against Powell, Giuliani and Lindell are each seeking $1.3 billion in damages. Smartmatic’s Fox News lawsuit is seeking $2.7 billion in damages, but its Newsmax and Lindell complaints do not specify exact figures. It’s unclear how much its case against OANN may have been settled for.
CHIEF CRITICS
Newsmax spokesman Bill Daddi said in a statement Thursday that the network is “disappointed” the Smartmatic case is going to trial, but is “pleased that the Court found no evidence that Newsmax acted with evil intent toward Smartmatic” even as Davis refused to throw out the case. It has previously called Dominion’s defamation suit against it “a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press.” Fox News said in a statement following its Dominion settlement that it “acknowledge[s] the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” and said the settlement reflects “Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.” The network had previously denied the defamation claims against it, arguing statements made on-air about Dominion were reporting on newsworthy events protected under the First Amendment. The other parties who have been sued have largely remained defiant, and Lindell has continued to push false claims of election fraud despite the multiple defamation suits against him, while Giuliani has called the lawsuit against him “another act of intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing.”
KEY BACKGROUND
The companies’ voting machines are at the heart of a right-wing conspiracy theory alleging they were used to fraudulently flip votes from Trump to President Joe Biden, which is not substantiated by evidence. Dominion says the claims have substantially hurt its business and put its employees in danger. The voting company controls about 30% of the U.S. market, according to data cited by ProPublica in 2019—making it the second-largest business of its kind in the country—and said in its Fox News lawsuit that it has contracts with 28 states. Business analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet estimated the Dominion’s 2021 annual revenue will be $40.15 million, though the company alleges it has lost out on state contracts over the fraud claims, including a $10 million contract in Stark County, Ohio, and a $100 million contract in Louisiana. London-based Smartmatic’s machines were only used in Los Angeles County in the 2020 election, though CEO Antonio Mugica told Forbes the company has ambitions to expand further in the U.S. The company alleged in its complaints the fraud claims have caused Smartmatic to lose more than $2 billion in valuation since the 2020 election, going from more than $3 billion to less than $1 billion, though Forbes has independently valued Smartmatic at an estimated $730 million.
TANGENT
Smartmatic’s case against Newsmax going to trial comes shortly after some of the voting company’s executives, including founder Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, were separately indicted in August on charges of foreign bribery and money laundering. The federal indictment alleges the executives unlawfully bribed an elections official in the Philippines $1 million to use the company’s voting machines in the country’s 2016 elections. Smartmatic was not charged as a company in the lawsuit or accused of any wrongdoing and the allegations do not have any bearing on the 2020 election, though it remains to be seen if they could play a role as Smartmatic’s cases go to trial.
