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| In this Jan. 4, 2021, file photo a worker passes a Dominion Voting ballot scanner while setting up a polling location at an elementary school in Gwinnett County, Ga. (AP Photo/Ben Gray, File) |
Dominion files $1.6B lawsuits against Newsmax, OAN, former Overstock CEO
Dominion files $1.6B lawsuits against Newsmax, OAN, former Overstock What You Need To Know
- Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday continued its suing spree against conservative media outlets and other prominent figures it says spread baseless claims about it rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump
- The Denver-based voting machine company filed three separate defamation lawsuits against the cable TV networks Newsmax and One America News and against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne
- Citing lost profits and other damages, the lawsuits each seek more than $1.6 billion
- Dominion says its reputation has been damaged so badly by the false claims that it has lost at least $70 million in profits as a result of contracts that have been canceled or not awarded since the presidential election
Dominion Files $1.6B Lawsuits Against Newsmax, OAN, former Overstock CEO
PUBLISHED 2:38 PM ET AUG. 10, 2021
Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday continued to file lawsuits against conservative media outlets and other prominent figures it says spread baseless claims about it rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump.
The Denver-based voting machine company filed three separate defamation lawsuits against the cable TV networks Newsmax and One America News and against former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. Citing lost profits and other damages, the lawsuits each seek more than $1.6 billion.
"The defendants in today's filings recklessly disregarded the truth when they spread lies in November and continue to do so today,” Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement. “We are filing these three cases today because the defendants named show no remorse, nor any sign they intend to stop spreading disinformation. This barrage of lies by the Defendants and others have caused—and continue to cause—severe damage to our company, customers, and employees. We have no choice but to seek to hold those responsible to account."
The Newsmax and OAN filings borrow much of the same language. In them, Dominion’s lawyers wrote that the networks “helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where up is down, pigs have wings, and Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud to steal the presidency from Donald Trump by rigging the vote.”
Dominion alleges the networks “manufactured, endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion.” The claims included that Dominion’s software and algorithms manipulated vote counts to help Joe Biden, that the firm is owned by a company founded in Venezuela to rig elections for the late dictator Hugo Chavez and that Dominion was involved in voting irregularities in cities where its machines are not even used.
In a statement to Spectrum News, Newsmax said it had not yet reviewed Dominion’s complaint but asserted that the network “simply reported on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the President, his advisors and members of Congress.”
“Dominion’s action today is a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press,” the statement said.
The OAN lawsuit also names as defendants Herring Networks CEO Robert Herring and President Charles Herring, as well as reporters Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb. Herring Networks is OAN’s parent company.
OAN has not responded to an email from Spectrum News seeking comment.
Byrne is accused of bankrolling false “forensic” reports that claim Dominion’s machines were intentionally designed to create systemic fraud and influence election results. Dominion says he also enlisted and promoted conspiracy theorists and misrepresented their credentials.
Byrne, who has previously said he did not vote for Trump, has not commented publicly on the lawsuit.
Dominion says its reputation has been damaged so badly by the false claims that it has lost at least $70 million in profits as a result of contracts that have been canceled or not awarded since the presidential election, a trend the company predicts will continue to play out over the coming years. Dominion claims some election officials have told its representatives that the company is losing business “because of the ‘Dominion’ name.”
The lawsuit against Newsmax was filed in state court in Delaware, while the other two cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Trump and some of his prominent supporters continue to push false claims that widespread election fraud cost him re-election in November.
All but one of the more than 60 legal challenges filed by Trump and his allies have failed in the courts, including two tossed out by the Supreme Court.
The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Association of State Election Directors described the election as "the most secure in American history.” And before resigning in December, Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department found no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could have changed the outcome of the election.
Dominion says it’s impossible to program its voting software to switch votes because the machines print a paper ballot, which is reviewed by the voter and can be used to audit election results.
The company has previously filed a number of other $1 billion-plus defamation lawsuits against those who have accused it of working to fix the election, including Fox News, lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
In a call with reporters Tuesday, Dominion attorney Stephen Shackelford did not rule out suing Trump, Reuters reported.
"We are still exploring options as to how to hold other participants in the campaign of lies accountable," Shackelford said.
Ryan Chatelain - Digital Media Producer
Ryan Chatelain is a national news digital content producer for Spectrum News and is based in New York City. He has previously covered both news and sports
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| FILE - Sidney Powell, right, speaks next to former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, as members of President Donald Trump's legal team, during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) |
Judge rules Dominion case can proceed against Trump allies
Judge Rules Dominion Case Can Proceed Against Trump AlliesPUBLISHED 10:46 PM ET AUG. 11, 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge cleared the way Wednesday for a defamation case by Dominion Voting Systems to proceed against Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, allies of former President Donald Trump who had all falsely accused the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled that there was no blanket protection on political speech and denied an argument from two of the defendants that the federal court in Washington wasn't the proper venue for the case.
“As an initial matter, there is no blanket immunity for statements that are 'political’ in nature,” the judge wrote in the 44-page ruling.
While courts have recognized there are some hyperbolic statements in political discourse, “it is simply not the law that provably false statements cannot be actionable if made in the context of an election,” Nichols wrote.
The judge also rejected Powell and Lindell’s arguments that Dominion had failed to meet a legal burden that their statements were made with “actual malice.”
He outlined several instances where the trio made outlandish and blatantly false claims, including when Powell stated that the company was created in Venezuela to rig elections for the late leader Hugo Chavez and that it can switch votes.
In allowing the lawsuit to go forward, Nichols said Dominion had adequately proved that Powell made statements that could lead to a lawsuit "because a reasonable juror could conclude that they were either statements of fact or statements of opinion that implied or relied upon facts that are provably false.” Dominion has sought $1.3 billion in damages from the trio.
The judge used similar language against Lindell, the founder and CEO of MyPillow, saying Dominion proved Lindell had "made his claims knowing that they were false or with reckless disregard for the truth.”
Powell and Giuliani, both lawyers who filed election challenges on Trump’s behalf, and Lindell, who was one of Trump's most ardent public supporters, made various unproven claims about the voting machine company. Many of those statements came at news conferences, during election rallies and on social media and television.
There was no widespread fraud in the election, which a range of election officials across the country, including Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed. Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states crucial to Biden’s victory, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states.
Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies were dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-nominated justices.
The judge’s ruling came just a day after the vote-counting machine maker filed defamation lawsuits against right-wing broadcasters Newsmax Media Inc. and One America News Network, as well as Patrick Byrne, a prominent Trump ally and former chief executive of Overstock.com.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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