Almost five years into their legal dispute, Smartmatic and Fox News both requested on Tuesday that a New York judge rule in their favor in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit focused on false vote-rigging allegations aired by Fox during the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
During a hearing at the New York State Supreme Court, Justice David B. Cohen listened to arguments from both parties seeking summary judgment, which would decide certain aspects of the case in their favor. Justice Cohen is anticipated to deliver a decision in the coming weeks on whether the case will advance to a jury trial.
Smartmatic, a voting technology firm, filed a complaint in February 2021 accusing Fox of defamation, claiming the network’s hosts and executives knowingly connected Smartmatic to conspiracy theories promoted by Trump supporters about widespread fraud used to rig the election against him.
“They released toxic gas that killed Smartmatic,” said Erik Connolly, Smartmatic’s lawyer, during Tuesday’s hearing. “Instead of waste, it was disinformation that they released into the environment.”