Newsmax to Pay Dominion $67 Million to Settle Defamation Suit Over 2020 Election Claims

Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to resolve Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit alleging the network aired false claims that its technology rigged the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The settlement was finalized on Aug. 15 and disclosed in an SEC filing made public Monday.

According to the filing, Newsmax will pay the $67 million in three installments: $27 million on Aug. 15, 2025, $20 million by Jan. 15, 2026, and $20 million by Jan. 15, 2027.

Dominion confirmed the agreement, saying, “We are pleased to have settled this matter.” Newsmax said it “stands by” its coverage as “fair [and] balanced,” and did not issue an apology.

The settlement follows a series of rulings in Delaware Superior Court that had positioned the case for trial. In April, Judge Eric M. Davis found that Newsmax’s statements about Dominion were false and defamatory as a matter of law, leaving a jury to decide issues including “actual malice” and damages. The settlement rendered these issues moot.

Dominion’s claims targeted broadcasts and an online post that, among other things, alleged the company aided election fraud, manipulated votes through software, had ties to Venezuela, and paid kickbacks to officials, assertions of which the court concluded were defamatory per se.

Defamation per se refers to a narrow class of false statements so inherently damaging that the law presumes harm to the plaintiff’s reputation without requiring proof of specific monetary loss. Traditionally, these are accusations that a person committed a serious crime, has a contagious or “loathsome” disease, is unfit for their profession, or engaged in professional misconduct, or, depending on the jurisdiction, engaged in sexual misconduct.

Even in per se cases, the plaintiff must still show the statement was published about them, was false, and was made with the level of fault the jurisdiction requires (at least negligence for private figures and “actual malice” for public officials or public figures). Unlike defamation per quod, which requires proof of special damages, defamation per se allows presumed damages, though the precise categories and remedies vary by state law.

Reuters reported that in April 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to settle a separate defamation case. Last fall, Newsmax settled a similar suit with Smartmatic; the amount, later disclosed in a regulatory filing, was $40 million.

Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation case against Fox News is advancing in New York state court after an appellate ruling kept key claims intact, with the parties trading summary-judgment motions and the case moving toward trial unless it settles.