Smartmatic and conservative outlet Newsmax have settled the voting machine company’s 2020 election defamation lawsuit, avoid a lengthy, high-stakes trial.
The confidential nature of the settlement suggests the details won’t be made public.
“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” network spokesperson, Bill Daddi announced.
The undisclosed settlement agreed to likely reduces the financial impact on the cable news outlet.
As CNN reports:
The terms of the settlement were not immediately known. The deal comes hours after jury selection got underway in a Wilmington, Delaware, courtroom ahead of opening statements scheduled for Monday.
A loss at trial could have put Newsmax on the hook to pay tens of millions of dollars to Smartmatic, putting the small cable channel in financial peril.
“This is a case that is a bet-your-company case for Newsmax,” Howard Cooper, an attorney for the network, said at a recent pretrial hearing.
The settlement is the latest in a string of 2020 election defamation cases to reach an out-of-court agreement before trial. Fox News famously settled with Dominion Voting Systems last year for $787 million, and the far-right channel One America News settled with Smartmatic earlier this year. Both cases were also about the same 2020 election smears.
The trial between Smartmatic and Newsmax was scheduled to begin on Monday.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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