Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Judge Immediately Tosses Newsmax’s Lawsuit Against Fox News — But That’s Not End Of Story

[Wikimedia Commons/Public/Joe Gratz]

A judge dismissed Newsmax’s lawsuit against Fox Corporation and Fox News “without prejudice” on Thursday, though the network intends to refile an amended complaint.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, stated in her decision that Newsmax submitted a “shot complaint” by adding counts that “incorporate preceding allegations.” In a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation, Newsmax said they are “refiling” their lawsuit against Fox.

“We understand this is just a technical matter and our law firm is refiling,” the statement said.

Newsmax’s five-count lawsuit allegedly made “each submissive count to carry all that came before,” making the last count a “combination of the entire complaint,” Cannon said. The judge gave Newsmax until Thursday to file a new complaint that does “not contain any successive counts” and provides “specific factual allegations” against the defendant.

“The Complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE,” Cannon wrote. “Plaintiff may file an amended complaint that must not contain any successive counts that incorporate all prior allegations. In other words, Counts I, II, III, IV and V may incorporate the same factual allegations, but Counts II, III, IV and V must not broadly incorporate the allegations of previous counts … The Court has an independent obligation to dismiss such pleadings and require repleader.”

Update: Judge Aileen Cannon determined Newsmax’s lawsuit against Fox to be a “shotgun complaint” and dismissed it. Newsmax has 6 days to file a corrected and proper complaint. pic.twitter.com/XQGKsNcJDp

— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) September 5, 2025

A shotgun complaint is a legal document that either adds the same allegation into each count, fails to separate each allegation into a separate count or adds vague and immaterial facts that are not specifically connected to the case.

Newsmax filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fox on Wednesday, alleging that its competitor took unlawful actions to block competition in the market for other right-leaning networks. The suit alleged that Fox conditions “no-carry provisions,” which restricts or blocks distributors from airing competitors such as Newsmax, and penalizes distributors by making them promote its less popular channels. The lawsuit further alleged that Fox imposed financial penalties on distributors if it aired Newsmax.

In response to the lawsuit, Fox News Media stated that Newsmax “cannot sue their way” out of their failure to increase their ratings.

“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 statement read.

Cannon also dismissed former special counsel Jack Smith’s case against President Donald Trump in July 2024, which alleged that Trump unlawfully stored classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The judge ruled that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated the appointments clause of the Constitution.

Newsmax recently settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, which alleged that the network falsely accused the company of election fraud in 18 statements. As part of the settlement, Newsmax agreed to pay $67 million over the next three fiscal years to Dominion.