A New York state judge on Tuesday signaled skepticism toward Fox Corp’s bid to dismiss Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion lawsuit that accused Fox News hosts and guests of making defamatory claims about the voting technology firm during the network’s coverage of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
During an oral argument held virtually, Judge David Cohen made comments sympathetic toward Smartmatic, which in February sued Fox and two of Donald Trump’s former lawyers, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, after the attorneys accused it of rigging votes against the former president. Smartmatic is a London-headquartered company with a U.S. unit based in Florida.
