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.
Whoa!!! That was uncalled-for. Play nice will ya? There’s a way to make a point without being insulting. In fact, I just did it, and was thanked for it!
It would appear that a lot of people have not been paying attention to the details of the court proceedings, including you.
For the record, Fox wasn’t trying to convince anyone of anything. They were attempting to get their viewership back by airing things they thought the viewers wanted to hear. That’s what the record shows.
Fox would rather pay nearly a billion dollars (make that 2 billion very soon) than admit Trump was right, and therefore have to defend Trump's correct challenges to the 2020 steal.
Classic Murdoch behavior.
In fact, by paying off Dominion, FoxNews is also endorsing Dominion's Eric-Coomer-Is-The-Blue-Dress:
"[President Trump is an] autocratic, narcissistic, fascist ass-hat blowhard and his christian jihadist VP, unfriend me now...I'm looking at you Geoffrey Cushing-Murray, Gus Murern, Benjamin Rice...Only an absolute F^CKING IDIOT could ever vote for that wind-bag f^ck-tard FASCIST RACIST F^CK!" -- Dr. Eric Coomer, VP / Dir of Product Strategy and Security, Dominion Voting Systems, June 2, 2020 Facebook.
Well, not quite 240, but we’ll set that aside.
PDJT was right... back in 2017, that something was fishy with the election. He was sure he won the popular vote. He put together a commission, which found that machine voting was audit-able in about ONLY 80% of the country.
So his administration got to work to make sure that 95%-100% of all votes cast by machine are backed up by a paper ballot. Paper ballots provide audit-able results. (95% nation-wide, 100% in contested states)
The fraud we’re looking for will not be found with the voting machines, thanks to PDJT.
“They were guaranteed going to lose in court when the case was filed in Looney toon Liberal Delaware.
Same thing would happen if the case was filed in San Fransisco, Washington DC, Portland, Austin and a whole host of looney liberal venues.
Has nothing to do with the truth.”
Blame Fox then for having their headquarters in such an area
Two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. There are more corporations in Delaware than people. Tax breaks. Favorable regulatory environment. Generally favorable legal system. Most of the law suits corporations get involved in aren’t political, and Delaware courts are favorable to corporations in those cases. If you fault blue states for the policies that drive business to red states, you might wonder why red states don’t do more to get companies to incorporate there.
...unless you are part of the lie spreading system controlled by the media/government cartel.
You need to be accurate in your understanding of how the law actually works.
I don’t disagree that the media publishes/broadcasts “ridiculous accusations” on a regular basis. One way that a media outlet can show that they have any regard for the veracity of such accusations is for the outlet to offer the party being accused the opportunity to comment—and to publish/broadcast those official comments. We did not see that happen in this case.
I am a big advocate of equal time. In fact, I think every single "news" broadcasting network should be required to provide equal time for all their political opposition. For every minute of their coverage, they should give the opposition party the same minute during the same broadcast.
It would clean up a lot of problems in this nation. They wouldn't be able to get away with the lying they do.
I see this as a possibly valid point. Fox should have offered Dominion the same time to refute any allegations against them. If they didn't, it seems like a boneheaded move in retrospect.
So in all those other instances of making “ridiculous claims,” what you need is a plaintiff. The question isn’t whether or there is a double standard of justice. It’s about whether or not you have a plaintiff.
If you clearly cannot get equal justice, you will never get a plaintiff because nobody is foolish enough to waste huge sums of money on a case in a tainted jury pool. The very idea is ridiculous.
Remember, this is not a criminal trial. It’s a civil suit and as such someone has to be willing to be a plaintiff. Plaintiffs have to deal what the discovery process will reveal. This is probably why so few defamation suits succeed, and why so few people are willing to be a plaintiff in a defamation case.
I am reminded of the case between Apple and Samsung The only thing I needed to know to determine who was going to win was where the case would be tried.
It was tried in Silicon Valley. Guess who won?
Where would the media liars be sued? Manhattan? Give it up. Not going to happen.
You’d be surprised how little board members have to do with corporate decisions, especially Big $ ones. Paul Ryan didn’t write the check. Rupert Murdoch did.
Yep ..Fox was in on it.
Corporations locate in Delaware because of incentives in law Delaware provides in order to entice them there. I think when the decision was made to incorporate there, no thought was given to the possibility that they may one day have to face a loony toon Jury pool that would eviscerate them.
I think the cost of locating there has now probably outweighed any potential benefit they ever had of locating there.
Equal time usually means 3 leftwards and a RINO arguing over over a intentional faulty premise.
In the end no one has answered a single legitimate question.
You compiled a long list of anecdotes that add up to a persuasive patchwork...of anecdotes. Not a one of them speaks to Dominion’s culpability in the outcome
Well, you should give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. I am sure that you already have done so.
“You need to be accurate in your understanding of how the law actually works.”
My understanding is just fine. I can empathize with the frustrations you have with the legal system. I’m well aware of how it works.
“If you clearly cannot get equal justice, you will never get a plaintiff because nobody is foolish enough to waste huge sums of money on a case in a tainted jury pool. The very idea is ridiculous.”
It’s a chicken/egg argument. You can’t get justice without a plaintiff, and you can’t get a plaintiff without justice. And until media outlets are willing to organize/incorporate in states where there will be less liberal juries, then the media companies are going to continue to be sued in the states where the juries are liberal.
The other problem is that most of the news is controlled by a very small number of media outlets. Even the “small” outlets are owned by bigger outlets—big media outlets (both conservative and liberal) with ENORMOUS operating budgets that can well afford to defend themselves.
So, yeah, if you’re going to go up against a big media outlet you pretty much have to have, at the VERY LEAST, a legal argument that is likely to convince a jury in that media outlet’s home state. On top of that you have to either have financial resources or a legal representation from a wealthy law firm that’s willing to take your case on a contingency basis.
“I am a big advocate of equal time. In fact, I think every single “news” broadcasting network should be required to provide equal time for all their political opposition. For every minute of their coverage, they should give the opposition party the same minute during the same broadcast.”
I’m not sure I am an advocate of “equal time.” I know it sounds like a good idea. But I’m also wondering how many minutes of the “Wind Lady” anybody should be subjected to. LOL I guess it might be kind of fun to hear about how she was “internally decapitated.” (WTF does that MEAN???)
Then the media companies are going to continue *NOT GETTING SUED* in the states where the juries are liberal.
The other problem is that most of the news is controlled by a very small number of media outlets. Even the “small” outlets are owned by bigger outlets—big media outlets (both conservative and liberal) with ENORMOUS operating budgets that can well afford to defend themselves.
I have recently arrived at the conclusion that they are all likely sock puppets of the government. The government has it's tentacles all through this system, and of course Elon Musk has recently revealed that the government was deeply embedded in Twitter.
So, yeah, if you’re going to go up against a big media outlet you pretty much have to have, at the VERY LEAST, a legal argument that is likely to convince a jury in that media outlet’s home state. On top of that you have to either have financial resources or a legal representation from a wealthy law firm that’s willing to take your case on a contingency basis.
This argument is based on the belief that we still have a functional and objective legal system, and I regard that assumption as the essential flaw in the theory.
I’m not sure I am an advocate of “equal time.” I know it sounds like a good idea. But I’m also wondering how many minutes of the “Wind Lady” anybody should be subjected to. LOL I guess it might be kind of fun to hear about how she was “internally decapitated.” (WTF does that MEAN???)
I'm fine with liberals putting up this "Wind Lady", if that's who they want to represent them, but our side can also put up people, and I would think we would select people who can speak rationally to the American people.
That is the funniest thing i've read all day. Was Derick Chauvin convicted on "facts"?
I have watched the courts for a very long time, and one of the things I can tell you is that if a court ever makes a decision on "facts", it will be an accident.
I fear that neither Trump nor anyone else will ever get back into the White House until the corrupt election systems are dealt with.
They will simply manufacture enough fake votes to make it appear as if their candidate won, just as they did in 2020.
All those folks waiting for the release of the Kraken Pt. 2 got disappointed……….again. They just knew Fox would extract through depositions & discovery the proof needed to bring down Dominion and prove Trump got screwed. He may have. But this was gonna be the proof.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.