Fired Fox producer Abby Grossberg (Screenshot via NBC News)
Smartmatic has subpoenaed ex-Fox producer Abby Grossberg, who was fired after she claimed in court that the network "coerced" her Dominion testimony.
Grossberg's attorneys Parisis G. Filippatos and Tanvir H. Rahman confirmed to Law&Crime that Smartmatic issued the notice of the subpoena to their client, though the filing did not appear in the state court database by press time.
Attorneys for neither of the parties immediately supplied a copy of the document.
Grossberg, who has worked for Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo, has filed state and federal lawsuits against Fox accusing them of religious and gender discrimination. She also claims that Fox pressured and coached her into giving "false and misleading" testimony in her deposition for a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems.
The Dominion case, filed in Delaware, is gearing up for a trial next week, and Smartmatic has been watching it closely in pursuing its own multi-billion dollar lawsuit in New York.
Grossberg's attorneys said that Smartmatic wants their client "to produce documentary evidence in her possession related to Fox News's alleged malice when publishing defamatory material about Smartmatic."
In Delaware, the doctrine of actual malice forces litigants to show a news organization or public figure either knowingly made false statements or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. It's now Fox News' only remaining legal defense in Dominion's lawsuit after the voting machine company won a rare pretrial ruling finding it indisputable the Fox broadcasts at issue were false.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis stopped short of finding Fox acted with actual malice, a famously high bar in defamation cases that requires a fact-finder's judgment on the defendant's state of mind.
In a statement, Grossberg's attorneys said Davis' ruling came before seeing any evidence provided by their client.
"While she was still employed by Fox News, Ms. Grossberg previously surrendered access to evidence of this nature to Fox News in connection with the $1.6 billion Dominion/Fox defamation lawsuit," Filippatos and Rahman wrote. "However, it does not appear that this evidence was actually provided to the Delaware Superior Court in that case prior to the court's March 31, 2023, decision leaving open for trial the issue of whether Fox News acted with malice when publishing alleged defamatory material about Dominion Voting Systems, Inc."
Grossberg initially appeared on Fox's witness list for trial.
As of earlier this week, her attorneys say, that's no longer the case.
"Notably, on April 4, 2023, after being notified of Smartmatic's subpoena to Ms. Grossberg, Fox News reversed course and omitted Ms. Grossberg from its witness list in the Dominion/Fox lawsuit without explanation," they wrote.
A Fox News spokesperson said that Smartmatic has not notified the company of any subpoena issued to Grossberg.
"We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected while the damages claims in this case are outrageous, unsupported and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs," the spokesperson added.
Obtaining a copy of the subpoena, NBC News reported that it cites potential evidence and correspondence related to Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as the Trump Campaign and the Trump Organization.
Smartmatic's attorney Edward Wipper didn't immediately respond to emails requesting comment.
Follow Law&Crime:
