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.
“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.”
Interesting that corporations prefer blue states for their headquarters and red states for manufacturing because of less regulations and lower wages.
... or was it settled so that discovery could be avoided?
Discovery was LONG over. It was settled literally the morning the trial was to begin.
So Fox decided to NOT have discovery and TRYING to prove the election was stolen, it would have cost a hell of a lot LESS than 787 million to fight this SCREW FOX, WHAT SCUM THEY ARE!!
Discovery ended MONTHS ago. This settled the morning the trial was to begin, and the judge had already ruled as a matter of law that Fox had committed defamation.
To win a defamation lawsuit one has to CONVINCE A JURY that a media outlet acted with “actual malice.”
Actual malice is ONLY an element of defamation when you are allegedly defaming a public figure (ostensibly to allow for criticism of public officials, even if that criticism isn’t true). I highly doubt that anyone had ever heard of Dominion before 2020, they were not going to have to show actual malice.
“Then the media companies are going to continue *NOT GETTING SUED* in the states where the juries are liberal.”
You need to make up your mind about what your argument is. You were complaining earlier that Fox (a media company) couldn’t get a fair trial because the trial would be held in a place where the juries would be liberal (actually, if I remember correctly, you may have used the word “tainted.”)
Now you’re saying that media companies aren’t being sued in states that are liberal.
So which is it? Did or did not Fox News, a media company become the defendant in a liberal state?
You’re arguing just to argue. And frankly I have better things to do with my time.
Does the Esq stand for lawyer?
Look, I admit I’m not a lawyer... I only listened to about 1/2 dozen (or so) of them tell me that the jury in this case had to be convinced of “actual malice.”
It’s quite possible all of them were wrong.
I mean, lawyers can be wrong. Giuliani and Powell are both lawyers (for the time being) and they turned out to be wrong all over this case. lol
The dichotomy is in your understanding. The *LIBERAL* media companies are completely protected from being sued. The *CONSERVATIVE* (or in this case, conservative seeming) are under very grave threat from any jury in a liberal state.
One would have thought this was so obvious that it wouldn't need to be pointed out.
You’re arguing just to argue. And frankly I have better things to do with my time.
Well you are wrong about the first, but right about the second.
They’ve sued Newsmax now.
I will concede I don’t know the specifics of Delaware law - I forgot that it wasn’t being tried in NY where I’m from, so I suppose it’s possible that Delaware’s defamation law requires actual malice. In NY actual malice is not required, but it is possible that I’m the one that’s wrong as well.
Well, you could be right.
I will add that the volume of texts and emails, not to mention deposition testimony from people at Fox (including Murdoch himself) was pretty convincing. (Murdoch himself said the accusations were crazy, but that he could have stop their publication if he had wanted to. He said for him it wasn’t an issue of politics, but of money... which was Dominion’s argument all along.)
So whether or not that HAD to convince a jury of actual malice, it looks like they very well may have been able to.
Yes, it is all theater. Just another step along the path to complete ruin. When elections are stolen again everyone will be reminded to keep their mouths shut.... using this huge settlement that FOX had to pay to avoid going into court as an example. And the lawyers who tried to stop it such as Sydney Powel and Rudy Guiliani were destroyed as well. What do you think your chances of finding a lawyer who will fight election corruption these days? Comply, put up with it, or be destroyed.
Did any money actually change hands? Neither party wanted this to face the light of day in court. None of us really know what the actual agreement was. We only know what a bunch of lying lawyers from one of the instruments of our destruction say it was.
This just in.
Those security gains are from Election Day voting -- why do you think the Donkey fraud shifted to mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting 5 years ago!!
I’m aware of that.
I was, however, specifically talking about the information broadcast about Dominion voting machines.
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