Dominion Voting Systems and Fox reach last-minute settlement in $1.6B defamation lawsuit

Fox Corporation and Fox News reached a US$787.5 million settlement in a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday, avoiding a high-profile trial that would have put one of the world’s top media companies in the crosshairs over its coverage of fake vote-rigging claims in the US election. 2020.

The resolution, whose term was not immediately announced, was announced at 11 a.m., with a 12-person jury selected this morning and the case set to begin with opening statements this afternoon. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages in a lawsuit filed in 2021, with Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis presiding over the case in Wilmington.

Dominion’s CEO announced the settlement figures and said Fox admitted to lying about his company.

“We acknowledge the court’s decision to find certain claims about Dominion false. This settlement demonstrates Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards,” Fox said in a statement.

“We hope that our decision to settle this dispute with the Dominion peacefully, rather than the acrimony of a divisive trial, will allow the country to move forward from this issue.”

Dominion’s lawyers declined to answer questions about whether Fox News would issue a public apology or make reforms.

The deal saved Fox that some of its most famous figures were invited to testify and could be questioned, from executives like Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old media mogul who is Fox Corp.’s chairman and CEO. Suzanne Scott, as well as on-air hosts including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro.

The decision to settle also followed a judge’s ruling that Fox could not invoke free speech protections under the US Constitution to defend it.

At issue in the lawsuit is whether Fox is liable for spreading false claims that Denver-based Dominion’s vote counting machines were used to rig the 2020 US election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden over Republican Donald Trump. Dominion asserted that the on-air claims caused the company “exorbitant and irreparable economic damage.”

Fox News is the most-watched US cable news network, according to media research firm Nielsen.

Jurors are scheduled to hear opening arguments in the case Tuesday afternoon. But he and the judge did not return to the courtroom as scheduled. The attorney spent time talking and on the phone while he and members of the media waited for someone to announce what had happened.

The main question for the jury was whether Fox knowingly spread false information or ignored the truth, the “actual malice” standard that Dominion must show in a defamation case. Based on numerous internal communications, Dominion said Fox staff, from newsroom employees to Murdoch, knew the statement was false but continued to air it for fear of losing viewers to media competitors on the right.

Dominion in 2021 sued Fox Corp. and Fox News, insisting that its business was damaged by claims of fraudulent voter fraud aired by an influential American cable news outlet known for its list of conservative commentators.

Dominion was originally founded in Toronto by John Poulos and James Hoover.

Another setting

The stakes are higher as another US voting technology company, Smartmatic, pursues its own defamation suit against Fox seeking $2.7 billion in damages in New York state court.

Fox Corp shareholders are demanding company records that could show whether directors and executives actually monitored Fox News’ coverage of Trump’s election claims, sources told Reuters, in what could be a prelude to lawsuits seeking to make directors liable for costs.

Fox called Dominion’s damages claims unrealistic and based on a flawed economic model. An expert report commissioned by Dominion said many contracts were lost for Fox coverage, although much of the report remains sealed.

Fox claimed in a filing on Friday that Dominion has agreed to knock off more than $500 million US from its damage claim. A Dominion spokeswoman denied the claim and said the damage claim remains unchanged.

Fox Corp reported nearly $14 billion in annual revenue last year.

Dominion has said defamatory statements about aired on the Fox show included Sunday Morning Futures, Lou Dobbs Tonight and Justice with Judge Jeanine.

Dominion also cited evidence that some hosts and producers believed that guests who had spread false statements, including former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, could not support the allegations.

Fox contends that its coverage of the vote fraud claims is warranted and protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press.