Smartmatic, Newsmax settle defamation case involving 2020 election

Voting technology company Smartmatic and conservative cable channel Newsmax have reached a settlement, averting a defamation trial that would have begun Monday over allegations that Newsmax personalities and guests spread lies about the 2020 election and Smartmatic’s role in it.

Details of the “confidential” settlement were not released. The settlement came as the process of picking a jury was underway, with the trial expected to kick off next week.

“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” said a Newsmax spokesperson.

Smartmatic settled a similar lawsuit against far-right One America News in April, also for an undisclosed sum. The company still has an ongoing lawsuit against Fox News, which could reach trial next year.

“We are very pleased to have secured the completion of the case against Newsmax,” a spokesperson for Smartmatic said. “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.” (In response, a spokesperson for Fox News said that “Smartmatic unsurprisingly chose to settle its case with Newsmax on the eve of trial after a series of major setbacks devastated its case,” adding, “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.”)

Next week’s trial would have marked the first time a jury was seated to consider whether a cable news network made defamatory comments about a voting technology company related to the 2020 election. In April 2023, Fox News settled a lawsuit filed by the voting technology company Dominion Voting Systems for a whopping $787.5 million, a figure that made headlines around the world.

Had the Newsmax case gone to trial, Smartmatic would have needed to convince a jury that the channel’s executives and hosts knew that on-air claims were false but allowed them anyway, which would meet the legal standard (“actual malice”) of defamation.

Smartmatic homed in on 24 specific claims that were made on Newsmax that it viewed as defamatory, with some made by network employees and some made by pro-Donald Trump guests. Smartmatic has emphasized that it was only active in Los Angeles County during the 2020 election, and therefore could not have been part of a nationwide conspiracy to swing the election in President Joe Biden’s favor.

All along, Newsmax has maintained that it was simply covering newsworthy allegations made by figures close to the Trump campaign, and hoped to rely on a statute in Florida law – where Newsmax is based – that allows media entities to report on judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings as long as they do so in a fair and impartial manner.

This week, the judge in the case prevented Smartmatic from arguing that it deserved “punitive damages” in the case, after deciding that Newsmax did not seem to be trying to intentionally harm the voting technology company. That decision substantially reduced the amount of money that Smartmatic could have received from the jury, and probably increased the chances of a settlement.

Unlike the Fox case, Smartmatic’s evidence – internal emails and text messages between Newsmax employees – has largely been hidden from view, limiting headlines and disclosures that could embarrass the network.

Newsmax is still facing a defamation lawsuit in Delaware from Dominion, though that case is not close to the trial stage.