DREAMSTIME

By Newsmax staff

The Superior Court of Delaware ruled Monday that Smartmatic will not be eligible for punitive damages in its defamation case against Newsmax.

This is a major ruling in favor of Newsmax.

The court ruled that since Newsmax had never engaged in express malice — meaning it never intended to harm Smartmatic — the election services company could not claim punitive damages.

Monday’s ruling means that to recover any damages, Smartmatic must prove to a jury that Newsmax’s coverage caused Smartmatic’s actual losses.

Newsmax’s reporting did not cause Smartmatic damages, and after extensive discovery Smartmatic has offered no evidence of such claimed damages.

Newsmax covered both sides of the dispute after the 2020 election. The Smartmatic suit against Newsmax threatens freedom of speech and freedom of press.

For more than a decade, Smartmatic was the preferred election company for Venezuela’s brutal Chavez/Maduro regime, where their services were publicly criticized.

Currently, three of Smartmatic’s top executives, including its president and founder Roger Pinate, are under U.S. Department of Justice criminal indictment for bribery and money laundering involving an election official.

The DOJ has alleged Smartmatic executives paid bribes to gain election contracts in the Philippines. Earlier court filings alleged the bribes amounted to $4 million.

Newsmax said it is disappointed the Delaware court is allowing a company with such a sordid reputation to pursue a defamation claim against a media company for covering public allegations made about it.    

Related Stories:

• Judge: Newsmax Did Not Target Smartmatic
• Newsmax Seeks Sanctions Against Smartmatic Over DOJ Bribery Claims

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