Posted on 04/18/2023 1:16:49 PM PDT by JSM_Liberty
Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems said Tuesday that they have reached a settlement agreement just moments before opening arguments were set to begin.
The deal ends a monthslong legal battle over whether the media company had defamed the voting machine maker when they broadcast election conspiracy theories in 2020.
The terms of the settlement were not immediately available.
Dominion sued Fox News in 2021, demanding $1.6 billion in damages. They said the network defamed it when it broadcast baseless claims that it was tied to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, that it paid kickbacks to politicians and that its machines “rigged” the 2020 presidential election by flipping millions of votes for Trump to Biden.
The settlement came on the day trial was scheduled to begin; late Sunday, the court delayed the conclusion of jury selection and opening arguments to Tuesday morning, leading to speculation that settlement talks could be taking place behind closed doors. The announcement follows a bruising week for Fox News. During pretrial conference hearings, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis sanctioned them for withholding evidence, admonished them for not being straightforward with him, and said he was considering appointing a special master to investigate possible legal misconduct by the attorneys. He said he would allow Dominion to conduct an additional deposition with Rupert Murdoch at Fox’s expense.
Davis also ruled that Fox lawyers could not use newsworthiness as a legal defense, limiting their possible trial strategies.
Few defamation suits make it this far, but legal experts say the case — and the extraordinary claims and evidence fueling it — was unique.
Legal filings made thousands of pages of emails, text messages, and other communications public, revealing that Fox News journalists, hosts, and executives knew the bogus claims about the election were false, even as the network continued to put them on air.
...and if his enemies can bring their cases to a friendly court/jury in NYC, he can judge/jury shop himself.
There were “no rumors” of Kraken. It was directly stated. And it related to Dominion, algorithms and a litany of BS that wasn’t even attempted to be proven. Ask Rudy, the Pillow guy and the Kraken lawyer how well it has worked out.
Big mistake..
It’s a violation of the 1st Amendment.
ok, so why all the machines acting up in 2022 Election? even in town I live in now in a mostly red area of a long time “blue” state?
why’d they (election workers) give me sharpie marker over a decade ago (probably around Obozo’s time) to vote with in AZ? I had no clue what it meant then for them feeding them thru the machines and vote “totals”.
Fox News = cowards.
95% of all voting machines used in this country produce a paper “back-up” ballot.
If you look only at contested states, that percentage rises to 100%.
“Allowing guests to make accusations only makes the guests liable.”
Not if you are aware that the accusations are false, or if you disregard whether the accusations are false or not.
makes sense. why wouldn’t dominion have sued those smaller news outlets too? makes sense because it’s true and FOX being owned by democrats, this likely was all some sham lawsuit so dominion looks credible and fox can keep pretending to be fair and balanced though they havent been in a decade or more.
Exactly.
Yes.
“ These days, neither the media (non-partisan in name only) nor Democrat politicians and voters question how Democrats are always right and Republicans are always wrong on everything. “
Perhaps recently Republicans have spewed a lot of nonsense.
I disagree. What guests say is their own responsibility and it does not impart liability to the company that hosts them.
And how can anybody be aware that the accusations are false unless they researched it, which clearly no body would do?
The standard comes from a 60 year-old ruling involving the New York Times. I think it’s Sullivan v. New York Times.
And my understanding of the “actual malice” standard is that if you’re going to publish/broadcast the claims made by other people you cannot disregard whether or not said claims are true.
When engaging in major litigation like this, the first thing plaintiff’s counsel wants to know is the insurance carriers and the coverage limits if possible, that way you know the table stakes out the gate.
You also want the defendant’s legal team to wet their beaks (read: billing lots of hours to the carriers) in order to soften them up for a potential settlement within the coverage limit, so the plaintiff doesn’t have to come into the picture with their corporate and hired legal firepower.
It not like the Fox insurance underwritten legal team is taking a loss - heck, they billed a ton of hours and settled the matter quietly under the coverage limit. Everybody is happy and Fox will have to live with dramatically higher insurance costs.
Well, I didn’t take a lice comb to the stuff I read, but yeah, from the stuff I read (the actual court filings), I will say that I am 97% sure that I never saw Fox make any argument that the claims made by Giuliani and Power were true.
AND let me add this:
In some of the items released in the last few months (again, I’m telling you what I have read IN COURT FILINGS) we have learned that Sidney Powell’s source regarding secret algorithms was an email that she (Powell) received from a woman who claims that “the wind” told her about the algorithm. “The wind” also told this woman that Justice Scalia was murdered at a human hunting spree. And this “wind” woman claims that she’s been “internally decapitated.”
Dominion has other cases pending against other news outlets.
(Well, at least one other case. I think a 3rd was settled.)
I don’t think that many people her want to hear that.
By settling, Fox is saying the opposite.
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