A court in New York has rejected a bid from Fox Corp. to toss a lawsuit from voting systems provider Smartmatic against Fox News.
The New York appeals court on Thursday upheld a previous ruling denying Fox Corp’s request to have the case dismissed, according to multiple reports.
Smartmatic sued Fox for more than $2 billion after the 2020 election, claiming the top-watched cable news network knowingly aired false information about its software to boost ratings.
The outlet has defending itself in court by saying the allegations against Smartmatic, which were being promoted by President-elect Trump and his allies, were newsworthy and has also argued Smartmatic is inflating its financial valuation.
“We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial,” the network said in a statement to The Hill. “As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on their face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”
Smartmatic has issued subpoenas to several members of the board of directors at Fox Corp in connection with the case, while Fox last month lost a bid to obtain a trove of information about U.S. federal charges against the voting machine company’s co-founder over alleged bribery in the Philippines.
Fox in April of 2023 agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million to settle a separate defamation lawsuit out of court.
The Associated Press contributed
