fox news v Smartmatic in defamation case... judge denies fox's attempt to get it dropped

butters

High on a Hill
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judge denies fox's request to drop case
(Bloomberg) -- Fox Corp. was ordered to face a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by Smartmatic Corp., one of two voting technology companies falsely accused on Fox News of rigging the 2020 US presidential election against Donald Trump.

The decision Wednesday by a New York judge is the latest setback for Fox after the media giant agreed in April to pay $788 million to settle a similar suit by Dominion Voting Systems Inc., the other company targeted by the conspiracy theory. Fox continued airing the allegations even after they were widely debunked.
Justice David B. Cohen in Manhattan denied Fox Corp.’s motion to dismiss the suit after finding Smartmatic had sufficiently laid out claims that executives at the parent company — including Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch — were involved in directing the election coverage by its subsidiary. Fox News Network LLC, along with several of its current and former on-air personalities, are also named in the suit and previously lost their attempts to dismiss the case.
 
so, on top of the Dominion case ($800M settlement), the Smartmatic case (to come) and a $12M settlement to an employee who claimed they'd been 'pressured to provide misleading information', fox news is now on notice (second letter) of Hunter Biden's intentions to sue them; this comes on the heels of the indictment of alexander smirnov for providing false statements regarding the Bidens.

In a statement, Geragos said, “For the last five years, Fox News has relentlessly attacked Hunter Biden and made him a caricature in order to boost ratings and for its financial gain. The recent indictment of FBI informant Smirnov has exposed the conspiracy of disinformation that has been fueled by Fox, enabled by their paid agents and monetized by the Fox enterprise. We plan on holding them accountable.

The Biden letter specifically cites Fox’s advancement of bribery allegations by former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who was indicted in February for making false statements about the Bidens to the FBI. “Smirnov and the post indictment revelations basically closed the loop on the conspiracy” Geragos told NBC News.

The letter alleges that Fox News knew that the bribery allegations were unverified at the time but continued to report that the source was “highly credible,” and demands corrections and retractions — including on-air statements by television hosts “including Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, and Maria Bartiromo, to inform their viewers on air that they have been sharing a debunked allegation from a source who has been federally indicted.

The letter also alleges that Fox’s airing of “intimate images” belonging to Hunter Biden that his lawyers claim were “hacked, stolen, and/or manipulated” violates Biden’s civil rights as well as copyright law. Much of the letter is focused on a six-part “mock trial” entitled “The Trial of Hunter Biden” that aired in October 2021, described by Fox as what a trial might look like if Biden was charged with FARA or bribery charges — neither of which Biden has been charged with. “While using certain true information, the series intentionally manipulates the facts, distorts the truth, narrates happenings out of context, and invents dialogue intended to entertain. Thus, the viewer of the series cannot decipher what is fact and what is fiction.” The letter demands that the series be removed from all streaming services.

time will tell as to how successful Hunter Biden might be, but i appreciate attempts to hold accountable those pushing false/deliberately misleading information in the guise of news

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/l...p&cvid=0bbebad9986c447de6d2637f90a7c56a&ei=57
 
Smartmatic gets billionaire's investment to bolster their ability to pursue court case against fox

a financial decision based on helping 'Hoffman’s desire to support the role of the legal system in arbitrating fact from fiction.

In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Hoffman alluded to the toll taken on Smartmatic, which has spent tens of millions on legal costs related to the suits. “Smartmatic built a global business by using technology to better engage citizens, regardless of party or ideology, by making voting simple and trustworthy,” Hoffman said. “After Donald Trump lost in 2020, however, Smartmatic became a target of the defamatory campaign to overturn his defeat.”
Hoffman's advisor, Mehlhorn:
“Not only is Smartmatic a great investment in terms of financial returns, this was a way to provide capital that would allow the truth to be found in the courts,” he said. “This is a company that is a great company with a great CEO, and this case is a great case.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...p&cvid=04a036c8dc6c481ca0a8eeae6523b235&ei=11
 
So a billionaire is now financing the Smartmatic lawsuit?

Houston, we have an ethics problem.
 
judge denies fox's request to drop case
Who'd have thought that a news organization lying would have negative results? I hope the money goes and makes them bankrupt so that Rupert Murdoch has to Bill them out of his slush funds
 
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