Newsmax and Smartmatic Settle Defamation Lawsuit, Averting ‘Death Sentence’ — For Now

Aaron M. Sprecher via AP

Smartmatic reached a last minute settlement in its defamation lawsuit against Newsmax, one of several cable news networks accused of promoting former President Donald Trump’s false claims the 2020 election was stolen, as the case was set to go to trial in Wilmington, Delaware.

“We are very pleased to have secured the completion of the case against Newsmax,” Erik Connolly , the lead lawyer for Smartmatic, said in a statement. “We are now looking forward to our court day against Fox and Fox News for their disinformation campaign. Lying to the American people has consequences. Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable.”

“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” a Newsmax spokesperson said.

The case is one of several defamation suits brought against conservative cable news networks by Smartmatic and Dominion, two voting tech companies who were the subject of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Smartmatic previously reached a settlement with OANN, a far-right news network, for an undisclosed sum. Fox News settled its lawsuit with Dominion after agreeing to pay $787.5 million to the company, averting a trial in the same Delaware courtroom in which Newsmax and Smartmatic were set to face off. Fox News still faces Smartmatic’s suit, which is expected to go to trial in 2025, barring a settlement.

One current Newsmax staffer, who spoke with Mediaite on condition of anonymity, reacted to the news: “Major relief among employees who were set to testify.”

Another Newsmax insider expressed relief that the agreement reached likely means the network will survive. After all, the mood inside Newsmax over the last few months has been terror at the prospect it would have to pay a hefty settlement anywhere near the scale Dominion extracted from Fox.

“For the most part a large portion of us believed any settlement as close to what Fox News paid would be a death sentence for Newsmax,” the insider said. “Obviously that isn’t the case.”

The storm hasn’t totally cleared, though. Newsmax still faces a defamation lawsuit from Dominion, which is set to go to trial in 2025.

Smartmatic was dealt a major blow in its case against Newsmax just days before jury selection. Judge Eric Davis , the same judge who oversaw Dominion’s case against Fox, ruled that Smartmatic could not seek punitive damages from Newsmax, seriously limiting its potential payout to strictly the sum it could prove it lost as a result of the claims aired by the network.

Davis also ruled that Newsmax could present evidence stemming from allegations that Smartmatic executives bribed an election official in the Philippines in 2016.

Still, the rulings weren’t all in favor of the cable network. Davis ruled in advance of the Newsmax settlement that its claims about Smartmatic were entirely false. What was to be determined at trial was whether the network acted with actual malice when it promoted Trump’s claims about the election.

Update 7:27 p.m.: Fox News issued a statement in response to Smartmatic’s latest: “Smartmatic unsurprisingly chose to settle its case with Newsmax on the eve of trial after a series of major setbacks devastated its case. Those setbacks included: the fact that Smartmatic’s President and Co-Founder, as well as one current and one former executive, were federally indicted for bribery in obtaining key businesses in the Philippines; Smartmatic was forced to cut its damage claims from $1.7 billion to $370 million to avoid evidence of those indictments; and the Delaware Judge ruled that Smartmatic could not recover punitive damages. Smartmatic’s claims against Fox are similarly impaired, unsupported by the facts and intended to chill First Amendment freedoms. We look forward to defending this case when it goes to trial.”