Smartmatic Won’t Be Able To Collect Punitive Damages In Upcoming Newsmax Defamation Trial

Smartmatic will not be able to collect punitive damages in its upcoming defamation trial against Newsmax should a jury rule in its favor, a Delaware judge ruled today.

The ruling could greatly impact the amount that Smartmatic, an election systems company, will be able to recover in a ruling in its favor. A trial is scheduled to start next week.

Judge Eric M. Davis wrote that the court “will not allow the jury to consider the issue of punitive damages in the trial.”

Davis wrote that Florida law, which is the governing standard in the case, requires that plaintiffs show that defendants engaged in “express malice,” or a specific intent to harm, in order to collect punitive damages.

Earlier this month, Davis rejected Smartmatic’s contention that Newsmax was guilty of “express malice.” Davis found that there “is no evidence that Newsmax acted with evil intent towards Smartmatic or that Newsmax’s proceeded with the intention to hurt Smartmatic. The record is devoid of facts showing that Newsmax harbored any evil or a motive arising from spite or ill as to Smartmatic.”

The judge left it up to the jury to decide if Newsmax was guilty of actual malice, whereby the news outlet is found to have recklessly disregarded the truth.

Smartmatic sued Newsmax in November, 2021, claiming that as the network sought a larger audience, it published dozens of reports indicating that Smartmatic was in a “criminal conspiracy” to rig the results of the election, “and that its technology and software were used to switch votes from former President Trump to now President Biden.”

In fact, Smartmatic did not provide any election machine software outside of Los Angeles during the cycle, the judge noted in his ruling earlier this month.

Smartmatic also contended that the because the term “express malice” is unclear, it could still recover punitive damages “for less egregious conduct.”

But the judge wrote that he found that argument “unconvincing.”

In a statement, Newsmax said, “Today’s ruling means that to recover any damages Smartmatic will have to prove to a jury that Newsmax’s coverage caused Smartmatic’s actual losses. Newsmax’s reporting did not cause Smartmatic damages and after