Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit against Newsmax over 2020 election will head to trial

The defamation lawsuit brought by voting machine company Smartmatic against Newsmax over its reporting about the 2020 election will head to trial, a judge ruled Thursday.

The trial is set to begin Sept. 30 in Delaware.

Judge Eric C. Davis -- the same judge who oversaw the landmark Dominion Voting Systems vs. Fox News case that resulted in a $787 million settlement for Dominion -- ordered that a jury must decide key issues in the Smartmatic case, including if Newsmax committed "actual malice" in its election reporting.

"The jury must determine if Newsmax was doing what media organizations typically do -- inform the public of newsworthy events -- or did Newsmax purposely avoid the truth and defame Smartmatic," Davis wrote in his 57-page order.

Smartmatic sued Newsmax for defamation in November 2021, accusing the network of publishing dozens of false reports claiming that Smartmatic helped rig the 2020 election.

Newsmax has argued, in part, that they were reporting on newsworthy claims of fraud.

Davis, in his ruling Thursday, also ruled that the question of damages must be left to the jury, after Newsmax contested Smartmatic's claim that the voting machine company lost hundreds of millions of dollars in business as a result of Newsmax's actions.

In a win for Smartmatic, Davis granted Smartmatic's claims on falsity, finding that "statements regarding Smartmatic software or voting machines altering the results of the Election are factually false." But in a win for Newsmax, Davis denied Smartmatic's claims of express malice, writing "there is no evidence that Newsmax acted with evil intent towards Smartmatic."

Earlier this year, Smartmatic settled its claim against One America News for an undisclosed amount.