(The Federalist)—Fox News warned on Wednesday that acceptance of a Smartmatic motion for summary judgment that narrows its lawsuit to determining how much Fox News must pay in damages rather than whether Fox should pay damages would “wreak havoc” on the First Amendment.
Smartmatic seeks, according to its filing, “to narrow the issues for the jury to a single, crucial question: How much should Rupert and Lachlan’s media empire pay for promoting an intentional falsehood that destroyed a voting technology company and eroded public trust in American democracy itself?”
To do so, the court would have to “grant Smartmatic summary judgment on the liability elements for a defamation and disparagement claim against each Fox Defendant. …” That means that rather than Smartmatic having to prove individually that all 192 statements it alleges were defamatory fit the following criteria — false, defamatory, directed at Smartmatic, and made by Fox hosts with actual malice — the court would rule on categories of statements, finding “as a matter of law that” those criteria were all met.
The filing is part of an ongoing lawsuit between Smartmatic and Fox News. As The Federalist’s Beth Brelje previously reported, “Smartmatic seeks $2.7 billion from Fox in a years-long defamation case in which it accuses Fox of reporting without evidence that the company’s software had a role in rigging the 2020 election. This, the company has said in court fillings, caused Smartmatic to lose business.”
- Read More: thefederalist.com