NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News lost its bid Tuesday to shut down a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit accusing the network of spreading falsehoods that voting technology companies helped “steal” the 2020 election from U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, the middle-level appeals court, ruled against the network, which wanted the judge to dismiss the $2.7 billion defamation case.
The company that brought the case, Smartmatic, said it played a valid and minor role in the election. It said the decision was a move to hold Fox News accountable for exaggerating unsupported and damaging claims from Trump’s lawyers.
Fox News launched the case as an attempt to stifle journalism, citing the network’s belief that it would prevail.
Tuesday’s ruling means Smartmatic’s lawsuit continues against Fox News, hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, former host Lou Dobbs, and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The lawsuit against Trump’s lawyer Sidney Powell was previously dismissed because he had no ties to New York, where the case was filed.
The five-judge ruling concluded there were “substantial allegations” that Giuliani and Powell damaged the company.
“The complaint alleges in detail that in their coverage and commentary, Fox News, Dobbs, and Bartiromo effectively endorsed and participated in the claims by ignoring, or seriously doubting” whether there was credible evidence for them, the five judges wrote. in unanimous opinion. Citing “the same reasoning,” they also reinstated Smartmatic’s lawsuit against Pirro, which was dismissed by a lower court.
Federal and state election officials, a comprehensive review of the states at war and Trump’s own attorney general found no widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. Nor did they find any credible evidence that the votes were tainted. Trump’s fraud charges have also been rejected by dozens of courts, including appointed judges.
The ruling comes as Fox News fights a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, with a trial date set for April. The network is also fighting a lawsuit from a Venezuelan businessman who says he was wrongly accused of trying to undermine the election.
Florida-based Smartmatic says that in the 2020 presidential election, its technology and software will only be used in Los Angeles County, California. The Democratic bastion turned out, as expected, for the Democratic nominee and now President Joe Biden.
But Smartmatic said Fox News and the three hosts repeatedly allowed Trump’s lawyers to portray Smartmatic as a foreign company involved in a vast multi-country operation to “spin” votes to Biden from the Republican leader.
During several appearances after Election Day, Giuliani insisted that the company was “formed to fix elections.” Powell called it a “huge criminal conspiracy,” and the two claimed that evidence was forthcoming.
After Smartmatic’s lawyers demanded a retraction, Fox News aired an interview with an election technology expert who said there was no evidence that the company’s technology had tampered with the election results. He refuted various claims made by Giuliani and Powell.
“Fox News, its news anchors and guests willfully and deliberately lied,” Smartmatic attorney J. Erik Connolly said in a statement Tuesday. The company maintains that the network cannot claim free speech protection for its actions.
Fox News argues that it can, saying it is informing the public about newsworthy, if controversial, claims of important figures about public issues.
“There is nothing more important than covering up the president of the United States and his lawyers who make allegations of voter fraud,” the network said, adding that it was confident it would be vindicated. Fox News called the damages claims “outrageous” and “nothing more than a clear attempt to prevent our reporters from doing their jobs.”
A message seeking comment on Tuesday’s decision was sent to Giuliani’s attorney. He said Giuliani’s statements were protected by the First Amendment and other laws and principles.
Associated Press writer Randall Chase contributed from Dover, Delaware.