The company wants one of the hosts fired as part of the monetary settlement.

This cable news channel is in talks to settle a case against them by a machine manufacturer.

One of the sticking points is the company wants one of the hosts fired as part of the monetary settlement.

FOX

Smartmatic

Jeanine Pirro
Jeanine Ferris Pirro is an American conservative television host and author, and a former New York State judge, prosecutor, and politician. Pirro was the host of Fox News Channel’s Justice with Judge Jeanine until 2022 when she became a co-host of The Five

Judge denies Fox News motion to dismiss defamation suit by election-tech company Smartmatic

A judge allowed an election technology company’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News to proceed on Tuesday, though he dismissed specific claims made against host Jeanine Pirro and two of the network’s guests.

New York Supreme Court Judge David B. Cohen denied Fox’s motion to dismiss the 2021 lawsuit, in which the company, Smartmatic, alleged that the network and several of its on-air personalities “decimated its future business prospects” by falsely accusing it of rigging the 2020 election against Donald Trump.

But in the same ruling, Cohen dropped Pirro from the lawsuit, noting that while she floated election conspiracy theories, she did not specifically accuse Smartmatic of wrongdoing. He also dropped Trump-affiliated lawyer Sidney Powell from the suit, saying his court has no jurisdiction over her as a Texas resident.

And he dismissed some of Smartmatic’s claims against Rudolph W. Giuliani while allowing others to continue, noting that the Trump lawyer explicitly alleged that Smartmatic committed crimes — comments, Cohen wrote, that “if false, were defamatory per se.”

Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo and former business host Lou Dobbs will both remain defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges that dozens of false statements about Smartmatic were made on Fox programs.

“While we are gratified that Judge Cohen dismissed Smartmatic’s claims against Jeanine Pirro at this early stage, we still plan to appeal the ruling immediately,” Fox News Media said in a statement, calling the lawsuit “baseless” and a “full-blown assault on the First Amendment which stands in stark contrast to the highest tradition of American journalism.”- Source