Newsmax said Friday it will refile its antitrust lawsuit against larger rival Fox Corp. after a federal judge in South Florida dismissed the case on technical grounds.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon called the initial complaint, filed earlier this week against Fox Corp. and Fox News Network, a “shotgun” pleading because of the way its allegations were organized. In Friday’s ruling, she gave the conservative network until Sept. 11 to refile and ordered that individual claims not broadly incorporate allegations from previous counts.
Newsmax described the dismissal as a technical matter and said it intends to move forward with a new filing.
Newsmax told CNBC, “We understand this is just a technical matter and our law firm is refiling.”
A representative for Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an earlier statement, Fox argued that “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers.”
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 3, accuses Fox of violating U.S. antitrust law by coercing distributors to exclude competitors such as Newsmax or limit their reach. Newsmax, founded in 1998, launched its television channel in 2014 to provide conservative programming and position itself as an alternative to what it calls Fox’s “establishment platform.”
The company went public this year and says Fox has abused its dominant position in the market for conservative-leaning pay TV, unfairly squeezing out rivals.
This is a breaking news article. Updates to follow.
The post Newsmax Responds After Judge Aileen Cannon Hands Fox News Legal Win appeared first on Newsweek.
