A New York state judge on Tuesday said Smartmatic can pursue its $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit claiming that Fox News Network, Rudolph Giuliani and others falsely accused the electronic voting systems maker of helping rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election to favor Democrat Joe Biden.
Reuters reports Justice David Cohen of New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan rejected bids by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp, anchor Maria Bartiromo and former anchor Lou Dobbs to dismiss Smartmatic's claims against them.
Smartmatic accused the defendants of turning it into a "villain" by fabricating a story that its technology helped Biden steal the 2020 election from Trump.
The Florida-based company said Fox News did this to boost ratings, cater to Trump supporters, and avoid losing viewers to smaller, right-wing networks Newsmax and One America News.
Smartmatic said it provided technology for the election only to Los Angeles County, which Biden won.
Without ruling on the merits, Cohen found a "substantial basis" for the claim that Fox News "turned a blind eye to a litany of outrageous claims about [Smartmatic], unprecedented in the history of American elections, so inherently improbable that it evinced a reckless disregard for the truth."
In a 61-page decision, Cohen said Giuliani's "barrage" of criticism, including that Smartmatic fixed elections in Venezuela and was up to its "old tricks" on election night, justified letting some claims against him proceed.
But the judge said an alleged misstatement by Pirro was not defamatory, and he lacked jurisdiction over claims against Powell.
Another company, Dominion Voting Systems, is pursuing similar litigation. A Delaware judge refused in December to dismiss its $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News. read more.
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