Fox News can’t dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by Smartmatic Corp. over false claims the network aired about the voting technology company’s role in the 2020 presidential election, a New York state court judge ruled.
The setback for Fox on Tuesday wasn’t a total win for Smartmatic. The company’s claims against former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell were dismissed, as were its claims against Fox on-air personality Jeanine Pirro. Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs must still face the suit, the judge said.
The mixed ruling by Justice David Cohen also dismissed some claims against Rudy Giuliani, a longtime attorney for former President Donald Trump. The company will be allowed to re-plead those claims.
Cohen’s decision is the latest twist in a legal saga that began after Smartmatic and a competitor, Dominion Voting Systems Inc., were accused by Trump supporters of being at the center of a vast international conspiracy to rig the election against the former president. That false claim was echoed by conservative news outlets and ultimately helped trigger the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Giuliani and Powell previously lost their efforts to dismiss similar defamation suits filed by Dominion, meaning the high-profile supporters of the conspiracy theory still have to contend with legal fallout from the matter. Dominion’s suit against Fox also survived a motion to dismiss.
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