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Todd & Weld says the network left more than $400,000 in legal bills unpaid.
The law firm Todd & Weld is suing the conservative media outlet Newsmax over alleged unpaid legal bills totaling more than $400,000.
In a complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court on Sept. 18, Todd & Weld says Newsmax is in breach of contract and “concedes it owes but refuses to pay,” for its work representing the company over multiple libel lawsuits against Newsmax over its coverage of voter fraud.
Todd & Weld was the lead trial counsel for Newsmax in both the Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits, in which the voting system companies alleged that statements made during Newsmax’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election were defamatory and false.
Smartmatic had sought over $1 billion in damages from Newsmax. The case was settled, with Newsmax paying $40 million in damages.
Newsmax also settled the Dominion lawsuit, which had sought $67 million in damages. By comparison, Fox News settled with Dominion for $787.5 million in 2023 for a nearly identical claim.
However, after settling the Dominion lawsuit, Todd & Weld’s complaint states that the Florida-based media company refused to pay the final invoices totaling about $426,500.
The litigation for the Dominion lawsuit closed around Aug. 15. A few days later, the complaint states that Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said the company would not pay any of the outstanding bills or future invoices to Todd & Weld.
The complaint states that Newsmax does not dispute the amount it owes.
However, Ruddy’s position, according to the complaint, is “a couple hundred thousand dollar haircut is fair” because the lawsuits were “lost” despite being settled in court.
The complaint says Ruddy has refused to speak by phone, text, or in person to resolve the matter, so Todd & Weld had no choice but to file the lawsuit.
“Newsmax has paid over 90% of Todd & Weld’s billings to our company,” Bill Daddi, a spokesperson for Newsmax, said in a statement. “We are, however, disputing a number of services performed by their attorney, Howard Cooper because we believe he mishandled a number of key matters involving our representation.”
Cooper is a founding partner at Todd & Weld.
David Rich, a managing partner at Todd & Weld, responded that another law firm—not Todd & Weld—handled the matters Newsmax claims were “mishandled,” and that firm resolved those issues in 2024.
“All work which Todd & Weld performed on Newsmax’s behalf was exceptional as evidenced by the fact that Newsmax’s general counsel and accounting department approved paying each and every one of Todd & Weld’s invoices, including the one which is at issue in the pending litigation,” he said.
Court documents did not specify when the court will hold the next hearing.
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