Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5m to avoid a defamation trial it expected to lose. The case centered on Fox News' broadcasting of lies and conspiracy theories about the company's voting machines, but Dominion isn't the only company suing it. Smartmatic, another voting machine company, has a nearly-identical lawsuit in the works and is asking for even more money.
In fact, on paper Smartmatic's suit appears to be the more dangerous. It's demanding damages of $2.7bn, compared with Dominion's $1.6bn. So far, attempts by Fox lawyers to have the Smartmatic case dismissed have fallen on stony ground. Last week the New York state supreme court in Manhattan gave the green light for the case to proceed against Fox News, the Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, the former business anchor Lou Dobbs and Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.Smartmatic, a global election technology company headquartered in London, lodged its defamation suit in February 2021. "The Earth is round," was the complaint's striking opening sentence. "Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election … "
Then there's Abby Grossberg, the now-former Fox News producer whose bombshell claims may well have helped force the company's checkbook out, and who has her own lawsuit filed against it claiming it forced her to lie in the Dominion case.
The New York Times summarizes the suits. These lawyers are drooling like puppies tonight.
