Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for FreeJ. Nichols grants the communications conglomerate's motion to dismiss the right-wing broadcaster's counterclaims seeking indemnification in a suit brought by a voting machine company alleging that the broadcaster defamed the voting machine company in connection with the 2020 presidential election. The broadcaster has not pleaded facts tying this suit to allegedly disparaging statements made by the conglomerate's subsidiaries or its former board chair, nor presented a plausible theory as to why those statements would have influenced the voting machine maker to sue the broadcaster. Non-disparagement provisions in the broadcaster's contract with the communications conglomerate, therefore, do not create an obligation to indemnify the broadcaster. Tortious interference claims also fail, since the broadcaster has not plausibly alleged that the board chair was acting as an agent of the voting machine company or its majority owner when the communications company's subsidiary satellite TV provider dropped the broadcaster.