Election machine company Dominion Voting Systems has launched a lawsuit against conservative cable channel Newsmax over its coverage of the 2020 presidential election. The network says it will be going to trial later this month.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis shared his opinion that Newsmax broadcast segments with inaccurate information that would “likely cause reasonable viewers to think significantly less favorably about Dominion than if the viewers knew the truth.” He added that Newsmax admitted as much in December 2020 when it shared on-air messages stating that some statements about the validity of the 2020 election and the role Dominion Voting Systems played in the outcome were not valid.
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial later this month, with a jury being tabbed to decide whether or not the election machine company is entitled to damages due to the content shared by the cable news outlet.
A statement from the company says it plans to allow the case to go to trial.
“This case represents a serious threat to free speech and a free press and Newsmax will defend itself vigorously at trial,” the statement read.
Previously, Newsmax has contended that it offered representatives from Dominion Voting Systems the chance to appear on the network to clarify any rumors or speculation that it had anything to do with any voting manipulations in the election that saw Joe Biden defeat incumbent President Donald Trump. The network, however, claims the election company did not accept the offer.
Davis is the same judge who oversaw Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News in 2023. That suit ended when the network paid a $787.5 million settlement to the election machine manufacturer moments before the trial was slated to get underway.
The news that Newsmax plans to take the issue to trial comes as the company is also preparing to pay the second half of a $40 million settlement with Smartmatic — another election machine company — after it claimed the cable news company acted with malice after the 2020 election.
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