Fox News reportedly pushed for settlement of a high-profile defamation case from Dominion Voting Systems, as a judge rescheduled the trial to Tuesday. Fox News’ parent company, Fox Corp., had sought to settle the case outside a court, according to The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. On Monday morning, the Delaware Superior Court judge presiding over the case, announced a delay of the trial until Tuesday, without any explanation given.
The lawsuit, which sought $1.6 billion in damages, was filed by Dominion back in March 2021. The company accused Fox News and Fox Corp. of libel and slander, when they hosted Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, two lawyers with ties to former President Donald Trump, who had made false claims about Dominion rigging the 2020 US election in favor of President Joe Biden. Despite its level of protection, Fox News was held liable for their words due to “actual malice” under US defamation law.
Fox News had argued that it was merely reporting newsworthy claims made by Trump, however experts agreed that the case had enough evidence for Dominion to win. Proceedings at the Delaware court included various text messages and emails from Fox personnel and executives, which demonstrated the extreme bias of the organization for Trump that ultimately went as far as wanting a reporter fired for fact-checking.
The case had risked six weeks of trial and an eventual appeal, however Fox Corp.’s top lawyer, Viet Dinh, pointed out that they had a good chance of winning in front of the Supreme Court.
The threat of the case was high, not just to Fox’s reputation, but potentially even to its existence, due to its ties with President Trump. This threat was especially evident with Newsmax, a further right leaning media outlet that embraced Trump’s views, and that caused Fox News’ ratings to go down.
The plaintiffs and defense both submitted motions for summary judgment, which was largely ruled in Dominion’s favor by Judge Eric M. Davis. In preparation for what was expected to be a grueling trial, Abby Grossburg, a former producer for Maria Bartiromo and Tucker Carlson at Fox News, filed two lawsuits against Fox, accusing the company’s lawyers of coaching her into giving false answers for her deposition.
Finally, Dominion had defamation suits pending against Newsmax and One America News, both of which have had their partnerships with DirecTV severed. Smartmatic, a rival election technology company, had also filed a lawsuit of $2.7 billion against Fox in the New York state courts, in addition to its case against Powell, which was being handled in a court in Washington, D.C. for jurisdictional reasons.
Dominion is a leading provider of election technology and services, supporting the electoral process in states across the US and around the globe. The company is powered by its innovative and comprehensive portfolio of products and services that are designed to help governments conduct free, fair, and secure elections.
Rudy Giuliani, who was mentioned in this article, is a former mayor of New York City and a former lawyer to President Donald Trump. He is also a lawyer and personal friend of President Trump and is currently representing former Trump himself in several cases. Giuliani was an integral part of Trump’s legal team and was widely credited for leading the charge against voter fraud in the 2020 election. He was also one of the main people mentioned in the defamation case filed by Dominion against Fox News for the misinformation spread about the company during the post-election period.
