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A judge ruled on Monday that Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit against MyPillow and CEO Mike Lindell can move forward, as Smartmatic and rival company Dominion Voting Systems pursue twelve defamation lawsuits over unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud around their voting machines.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell during the “Save America” rally on July 09, 2022 in Anchorage, Alaska.
key facts
U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright denied Lindell’s request to dismiss the Smartmatic case against him, ruling that the voting machine company “claimed sufficient facts” to show that Lindell may have discredited it.
Smartmatic sued MyPillow and Lindell in January for defamation and deceptive business practices in federal court, alleging that the CEO spread “lies” about the company and “deliberately fanned the flames of xenophobia and partisanship for the noble purpose of selling his pillow.”
Smartmatic sued Fox News and its presenters Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo in February 2021, alleging that they “engaged in a conspiracy to spread misinformation about Smartmatic,” New York Supreme Court Justice David B. forward against these accused.
The lawsuit brought by Smartmatic also named far-right lawyer Sidney Powell and Fox presenter Jenin Pirro as defendants, but the court dismissed her allegations against them, and also dismissed some of the allegations against attorney Rudy Giuliani but allowed others to proceed.
Smartmatic has filed a separate lawsuit against Powell in federal court, which is still pending.
Smartmatic also sued right-wing news networks OANN in federal court and Newsmax in Delaware court in November, alleging that both networks “told a lie” and spread fraud allegations about the company — whose devices were only used in California in 2020 — knowing It was so. False; Those lawsuits are still pending, and Newsmax has objected to Smartmatic.
Denver-based Dominion filed its first lawsuit in January against Powell, who was the most prominent person who publicized the fraud claims, seeking $1.3 billion in damages, and US District Judge Carl Nichols rejected Powell’s request to dismiss the case in August.
Nichols has also ruled in the lawsuits brought by Dominion against Giuliani, MyPillow and Lindell, although the cases against them and Powell may not go to trial until late 2023 or 2024, depending on the schedule set by the judge in early March.
Dominion sued Fox News in March 2021 alleging that the network had knowingly spread false news about its devices to improve failed ratings, and Davis denied Fox’s request to dismiss the case in December.
The voting machine company also sued Fox – including executives Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch – because it alleged that Fox tried to protect the executives from a Fox News lawsuit and refused to hand over documents related to them.
Delaware State Judge Eric M. Davies rejected Fox’s request to dismiss the lawsuit against it in June, which alleged that Fox executives – specifically the Murdoch family – “exercised direct control over Fox News’ programming decisions” in the wake of the 2020 election, and are therefore responsible for allegations False scam of the network that includes Dominion machines.
The judge dismissed Dominion’s allegations against Fox Broadcasting, which included fraud claims filed on Fox.com, and ruled that Dominion did not adequately allege defamation in the case.
Dominion sued Newsmax in Delaware state court in August and sued One America News Network (OANN) and its reporters in federal court, alleging that the two far-right networks promoted allegations of fraud despite knowing they were false and “helped create and nurture an alternative The reality is where… Dominion has engaged in a massive fraud.”
Davis denied the far-right Newsmax’s proposal to dismiss Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against her in June, finding that the news network likely knew her allegations against Dominion were “likely false” and that its reporting may have deliberately ignored evidence that Dominion was not involved in election fraud.
Dominion also sued former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne in August 2021, alleging the businessman “made and promoted fake evidence to convince the world that the 2020 election was stolen” using Dominion voting machines. Nichols rejected Byrne’s proposal to dismiss the case in April, ruling” A reasonable jury could find Byrne acted with real malice” in publishing provably false assertions about Dominion.
Huge number
1.6 billion dollars. That’s roughly the amount Dominion is seeking in damages against Byrne, On, Newsmax, Fox News and Fox Corp. Each of the lawsuits against Powell, Giuliani and Lendl are seeking $1.3 billion in damages. Smartmatic’s Fox News lawsuit is seeking $2.7 billion in damages, but complaints from OANN, Newsmax and Lindell did not specify exact numbers.
top critics
The parties he sued have remained largely defiant, and Lendl continued to push false allegations of election fraud despite multiple defamation lawsuits against him. Fox News said in statement After Smartmatic’s ruling was “gratified,” the court dismissed the charges against Pirro but would “immediately” appeal the decision, as well as file a counterclaim “to prevent a blanket assault on the First Amendment that blatantly goes against the highest tradition of American journalism.” Giuliani said the lawsuit brought against him was “another act of intimidation by the hate-filled left” and he has also filed a counter-suit against Smartmatic in an effort to recover his attorney’s fees, with Newsmax describing Dominion’s lawsuit as “a clear attempt to stifle such reporting and undermine the free press”. OANN has also moved to dismiss the cases against them, and Nichols is now deliberating on whether to dismiss the case.
main background
Corporate voting machines are at the heart of a right-wing conspiracy theory that they were used to fraudulently divert votes from Trump to Joe Biden, which is not supported by evidence. Dominion says these allegations have significantly damaged her business and put her employees at risk. The voting company controls about 30% of the US market, according to data cited by ProPublica in 2019 — making it the second largest of its kind in the country — and said in its lawsuit to Fox News that it has contracts with 28 states. Business analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet estimated the company’s 2021 annual revenue will be $40.15 million, though the company claims it has lost government contracts to fraud claims, including a $10 million contract in Stark County, Ohio, and a $100 million contract. dollars in Louisiana. London-based Smartmatic machines were used only in Los Angeles County in the 2020 election, although chief executive Antonio Mugica told Forbes The company has ambitions to expand further into the United States. The company claimed in its complaints that allegations of fraud have caused Smartmatic to lose more than $2 billion in valuation since the 2020 election, going from more than $3 billion to less than $1 billion, despite Forbes It has independently valued Smartmatic at an estimated $730 million.
in-depth reading
The exclusive inside story of the mad king’s fall into the pantry, Patrick Byrne (Forbes)
Voting firm Smartmatic sues MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for defamation (Forbes)
Voting firm Smartmatic sues One America News and Newsmax for defamation over allegations of election fraud (Forbes)
Dominion sues Newsmax, OANN and former Overstock CEO Byrne in new defamation suits over election conspiracy theory (Forbes)
Voting Dominion sues Sydney Powell for defamation over election conspiracy, others may be next (Forbes)
Dominion sues Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 billion over election conspiracy (Forbes)
Dominion Voting sues MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for defamation over election conspiracy (Forbes)
