Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, arguing that it falsely claimed the company has rigged the 2020 election.
As reported by The Associated Press, the voting systems company is accusing the broadcaster of spreading false claims in a big to increase their viewership ratings.
Copy of the lawsuit, obtained by the AP, states that the cable news giant "sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process."
CNBC reports that it is the first defamation suit filed against a media outlet by the voting company.
It is reported that the false claims were spread by former president Donald Trump and his allies, following the fallout of his presidential election loss to eventual winner Joe Biden.
Per the AP, there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election - a fact that a number of election officials and Republican governors have confirmed.
Many of Trump's legal pursuits to have the election overturned were dismissed by judges, including two that were thrown out by the Supreme Court.
Regardless, it has been reported that some Fox News employees continued to communicate false charges that Dominion had changed votes via algorithms in its voting machines - machines that had been created in Venezuela to rig elections for the late dictator Hugo Chavez..
Two of Trump's biggest allies, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, were also allotted screentime to be able to further spread the claims, which were then shared on Fox News' social media pages, the Associated Press reports.
The Independent reports that both Powell and Guiliani have also been sued by Dominion.
Additionally, back in December Fox News released a series of news packages debunking claims of electoral fraud after they had received a legal threat from Smartmatic USA, another electronic voting company.
Dominion has stated in the lawsuit that it repeatedly attempted to reach out to Fox News in order to set the record straight, but they were allegedly ignored, AP reports.
Attorney Justin Nelson, of Susman Godfrey LLC, has stated that Fox News' post-election behavior differed from other news outlets that had also covered the claims.
"This was a conscious, knowing business decision to endorse and repeat and broadcast these lies in order to keep its viewership," Nelson said.
As a result of the negative fallout from the election, Dominion's lawyers say "enormous and irreparable economic harm" has been caused to the company.
The suit has been filed in Delaware, and the company is yet to name specific Fox personalities for any further legal action.
