Fox Loses Last-Ditch Effort to Stop Massive $2.7B Defamation Suit
A New York appeals court on Thursday rejected Fox Corp’s attempt to be dismissed from Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed against the media company and its Fox News network.
The UK-based voting machinery company filed the suit in 2023, citing the network’s repeated attempts to bolster President-elect Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, reported Reuters.
Fox has maintained that its network should not be liable for repeating the claims made by Trump’s attorneys because it was acting in a journalistic capacity.
However, Fox agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million in 2023 to settle a similar lawsuit brought by the voting technology company.
“We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial. As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on their face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms,” said Fox in a statement to the Daily Beast.
According to Reuters, a five-judge panel ruled that Smartmatic’s suit can proceed to a trial. In addition to monetary damages, Smartmatic, which has settled similar lawsuits against right-wing networks Newsmax and One America News, is seeking “an apology” and a “full retraction,” reported the New York Times.
Smartmatic’s lawyers have also pressed to directly question former Fox Corp and News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, 93, about his succession plan for his billion-dollar entertainment news empire, with hopes that the proceedings might reveal his level of editorial involvement, reported the Associated Press.
Murdoch’s succession plan has been the subject of much discussion after he attempted to retool his estate to give his eldest son Lachlan Murdoch, 53, sole control of the estimated $22.5 billion family trust, reported Forbes. According to the Wall Street Journal, Murdoch wants Lachlan to continue the network’s markedly right-wing slant long after he is gone.
However, the decision to amend his trust was rejected by a Nevada court, with his remaining children Lachlan, 53, James, 51, Elisabeth, 56, and Prudence, 66, locked in a legal battle over changes to Murdoch’s will.
Murdoch was originally set to grant equal control of his empire to his four oldest children, equal financial shares, and shares to his to his youngest children, Grace, 23, and Chloe, 21.
