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Lawyers for Fox News are asking a New York judge to throw out Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit against the cable network — arguing that the voting technology firm is a “failing business” in search of a “litigation lottery ticket.”
“Smartmatic is not Dominion,” attorneys for Fox News argued in their motion for a summary judgment that was filed on Wednesday in state court in Manhattan.
In April 2023, Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp, agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, which accused the network of broadcasting false claims that its machines rigged the 2020 US presidential election.
In February 2021, Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its corporate parent as well as several of its hosts, alleging that they knowingly aired false claims that Smartmatic tipped the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden.
Fox News is a subsidiary of Fox Corp, which shares a common owner with The Post’s parent News Corp.
Fox News argued in the motion for summary judgment that Smartmatic’s defamation case cannot be compared to the Dominion lawsuit.
“Unlike Dominion, Smartmatic was a failing business without a significant presence in the United States entering the 2020 Presidential Election,” the network’s lawyers said in the court filing.
It described Smartmatic as a company “mired in a decade of business failure” due to “inadequate technology, missing certifications, and involvement in multiple highly controversial elections.”
Fox also noted in court documents that Smartmatic’s leadership had been under federal investigation for bribery and money laundering, and that its witnesses had invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 200 times.
In its own motion for summary judgment which was filed with Manhattan state court on Wednesday, Smartmatic accused Fox News hosts of having “systematically promoted the inflammatory and false narrative that Smartmatic… had deployed software throughout the United States to steal votes from President Trump.”
“While Fox claimed Smartmatic rigged a national election, the truth is undeniable. Smartmatic…only operated in Los Angeles County…” the company’s lawyers wrote in the court documents, adding that “its machines were not connected to the Internet.”
Smartmatic provided a statement to The Post which claimed: “Fox knowingly and purposely smeared Smartmatic in the past, and they are knowingly and purposely trying to smear it today.”
“Smartmatic is a global company with a decades-long track record in nearly 40 countries, supporting secure and transparent elections for billions of voters around the world,” the company said.
Last August, three Smartmatic executives were charged with funneling $1 million in bribes to a former Philippine election official to secure the country’s business, according to federal prosecutors in Florida.
Smartmatic’s president and co-founder, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, and two co-defendants were charged with foreign bribery and money laundering, the Justice Department said.
Martinez has denied wrongdoing and moved to dismiss the case against him.
Smartmatic was not charged and is not accused of wrongdoing. It said in a statement that “while our accused employees remain innocent until proven guilty, we have placed both employees on leaves of absence, effective immediately.”
“No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted,” the statement said.
Fox asserts in court documents that facing “imminent financial collapse and indictment,” Smartmatic viewed litigation against the network as a “lottery ticket” to regain solvency.
Unlike Dominion’s legal action, Smartmatic’s suit is being litigated in New York, where First Amendment protections for journalists are robust.
Fox also claims in its motion papers that the discovery process dismantled Smartmatic’s narrative of being a $2.7 billion global election technology powerhouse.
The company alleges there is “no evidence that Fox News’s coverage caused a single former, existing, or potential customer to refuse to do business with Smartmatic.”
The company added that Smartmatic’s reputational issues long predated any Fox coverage and included “years of providing election services to corrupt regimes in Venezuela.”
Fox also claimed its broadcasts do not meet the legal definition of defamation, let alone rise to the level of actual malice.
“No reasonable jury could find that Fox News’s coverage was actionable defamation,” the company said, arguing that the segments fairly conveyed President Trump’s claims about the election.
Fox Corp, the parent company, is not liable, according to Fox attorneys, who noted that its leadership — including Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch and Executive Chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch — had no role in the editorial decisions cited by Smartmatic.
Last month, cable outlet Newsmax Media said in a regulatory filing that it paid $40 million to settle allegations it defamed Smartmatic by reporting false claims that the voting machine company helped rig the 2020 election for Biden.
The companies settled privately last year, but the amount was disclosed in a Newsmax investor document dated March 7.
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