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Fox News agrees to pay $787.5 million to settle defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems
02:50 – Source: CNN
- Fox News will pay more than $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems after the sides hammered out a last-minute settlement Tuesday in the explosive defamation case launched against the right-wing network.
- Fox acknowledged the court’s rulings finding “certain claims about Dominion to be false.” However, the network will not have to admit on air that it spread election lies, a Dominion rep said.
- By settling, influential Fox executives and prominent on-air personalities will be spared from testifying about their 2020 election coverage, which was filled with lies about voter fraud.
- Dominion also has pending lawsuits against right-wing networks Newsmax and OAN, as well as against Trump allies Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.
Our live coverage has ended. Follow the latest US media news here or read about today’s settlement in the updates below.
In a statement made Tuesday after Fox News settled the defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems, Fox said:
“We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”
So, what did those rulings say?
This is about the topic of falsity. To win a defamation case, you need to prove a few things. Most importantly, you need to prove the statements were false and that they were made with actual malice, otherwise known as a reckless disregard for the truth.
In a major pretrial ruling on March 31, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled Dominion had successfully proven that all 20 statements mentioned in its lawsuit against Fox were false.
Dominion Voting Systems’ co-lead counsel Justin Nelson said he and Dominion’s other attorneys were expecting to go to trial against Fox News on Tuesday.
The final deal to settle the case with the right-wing network for $787.5 million came late in the day, and the settlement papers with Fox were signed just “minutes” before the agreement was announced, he said.
Prior to the last-minute settlement, Nelson told CNN he and other attorneys had been preparing opening statements – even during the two-and-a-half-hour courtroom delay after the lunch recess.
Fox News will pay more than $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems after lawyers from both sides hammered out a last-minute settlement of the defamation case launched against the right-wing network.
The deal was announced hours after the jury was sworn in at the Delaware Superior Court. Rumors of a settlement swirled in the courthouse when, after a lunch break, the proceedings dramatically ground to a halt for nearly three hours with no explanation, while the parties apparently hammered out an accord.
CNN’s Bill Hennessy, court sketch artist, captured scenes from inside the courtroom:
Dominion Voting Systems had two goals in its defamation case against Fox News — accountability and “trying to make Dominion whole,” said Justin Nelson, the lead counsel election technology company.
Both were accomplished in this settlement, he told CNN on Tuesday.
The payment of more than $787 million by Fox News to Dominion and the network’s statement acknowledging that its coverage of the 2020 election was false was “a strong message of accountability” and an important victory for the employees of his client’s company.
While the settlement does not stipulate that Fox’s anchors must acknowledge the lies on air, Nelson said it was a consequential outcome for the network.
The texts and emails that emerged during the litigation process from inside the Fox network were valuable, he said. “And what today has shown is that you have to pay a price if you’re telling lies.”
Previous court filings revealed messages that showed that the most prominent stars and highest-ranking executives at Fox News privately ridiculed claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, despite the right-wing channel allowing lies about the presidential contest to be promoted on its air.
He said the settlement with Fox sends a “strong message” to other right-wing outlets in which Dominion has ongoing legal disputes.
Fox News’ payment of $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems is the largest publicly known defamation settlement in US history involving a media company.
Notably, in 2017, ABC News paid $177 million after its years-long legal dispute with South Dakota-based meat processor Beef Products Inc. over its textured meat product that the network referred to as “pink slime.”
At the time, the settlement was believed to be the biggest amount ever paid in a media defamation case in the United States.
Fox News anchors will not have to acknowledge on-air that it told election lies about Dominion Voting Systems as part of the terms of its settlement, a representative for the election technology company told CNN.
Fox News did acknowledge in its statement that falsehoods were broadcast.
But top anchors at the right-wing talk channel will not be required as part of the settlement to acknowledge on air the lies broadcast in the wake of the 2020 election.
“Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion,” said the company CEO John Poulos on Tuesday, following the last-minute $787.5 million settlement with the right-wing network.
Smartmatic, the voting technology company that is suing Fox News for $2.7 billion for defamation said its pending case will further expose wrongdoing by the right-wing network, following the last-minute settlement in the case brought by Dominion Voting Systems.
The settlement for more than $787 million with Fox News represents “a ringing endorsement for truth and accountability,” the attorney representing Dominion Voting Systems said Tuesday.
Nelson said that more than two years ago a “torrent of lies” had swept Dominion and election officials across America, causing “grievous harm to Dominion and the country.”
Nelson also said the country must “remain ever vigilant to find common ground.”
“For our democracy to endure for another 250 years and, hopefully much longer, we must share a commitment to facts,” Nelson added.
The $787.5 million settlement in the Fox-Dominion case is an unequivocal rebuke of the right-wing news network and its journalism, said Elie Honig, former assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Translated it means we got caught lying by the judge – and I think that’s exactly why we are seeing this absolutely jaw-dropping number,” Honig told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Although the amount is about half of what Dominion was asking for, it’s still an astonishing sum, he said.
Dominion Voting Systems still has pending lawsuits against right-wing networks Newsmax and OAN, as well as against Trump allies Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.
All of these parties and entities deny wrongdoing and are fighting the lawsuits.
Following the announcement of a $787.5 million dollar settlement in the Fox News-Dominion case, John Poulos, the CEO of Dominion Voting Systems, said Fox News “admitted to telling lies” about the company.
“Nothing can ever make up for that,” Poulos added at a news conference following court.
“I cannot thank the election officials that we serve enough. Without them, there is no democracy,” he said.
Fox News has issued a statement on its settlement with Dominion Voting Systems acknowledging that some of the right-wing network’s on-air statements about Dominion were false.
For context: The statement was referring to Judge Eric Davis’ recent ruling that 20 Fox News broadcasts from late 2020 contained blatantly untrue assertions that Dominion rigged the presidential election. But Fox won’t have to admit on-air that it spread lies about Dominion, a Dominion representative told CNN.
The settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems totals $787,500,000, according to Dominion attorney Justin Nelson.
The settlement represents “vindication and accountability,” Nelson said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“The truth matters, lies have consequences,” Nelson said
“Over two years ago, a torrent of lies swept Dominion and election officials across America into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories, causing grievous harm,” Nelson added.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis praised both sides after they abruptly settled the defamation case between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems at the last second.
He said, “I have been on the bench since 2010… I think this is the best lawyering I’ve had, ever.”
“I would be proud to be your judge in the future,” Davis said, his final words before leaving the bench.
The hearing is now over. The case is now over.
A last-second settlement has been reached in Dominion Voting Systems’ historic defamation lawsuit against Fox News, the parties announced Tuesday in court.
The settlement was apparently brokered while the trial was on the brink of opening statements in Wilmington, Delaware.
After swearing in the jury earlier Tuesday, an unexplained hours-long delay paused proceedings in court, which yet again triggered rampant speculation that a deal was quietly in the works.
What this means: The last-minute deal means the closely watched case is effectively over and won’t proceed to trial. By settling with Dominion, influential Fox News executives and prominent on-air personalities will be spared from testifying about their 2020 election coverage, which was filled with lies about voter fraud.
Details of the settlement were not immediately available and might never become public.
More on the case: In its lawsuit, Dominion sought $1.6 billion in damages from Fox News. The right-wing network argued vociferously in pretrial proceedings that this number was inflated and didn’t come close to accurately capturing the potential losses that Dominion could have suffered as a result of Fox’s 2020 broadcasts.
Fox News and Fox Corporation — its parent company, which was also a defendant — say they never defamed Dominion, and say the case is a meritless assault on press freedoms. They denied Dominion’s claim that they promoted these election conspiracies to save their falling ratings after the 2020 election.
While the Dominion case is now over, Fox News is still facing a second major defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting technology company that was smeared on Fox shows after the 2020 election. That case is still in the discovery process, and a trial isn’t expected anytime soon.
The Fox-Dominion trial has resumed, after an unexplained delay of more than two hours.
The unexplained delay in the Fox News-Dominion defamation trial has surpassed 90 minutes.
Moments ago in court, CNN observed a top Fox lawyer showing a piece of paper —presumably a note — to a top Dominion lawyer.
A few minutes later, they both stepped out of the courtroom, into a private, secured area for court staff. Moments later, they walked back into court together. It is not known what they privately discussed, if anything.
The lawyers — Fox attorney Dan Webb and Dominion attorney Justin Nelson —subsequently huddled at Dominion’s table for a few minutes, in public view. They were talking to each other, but it is not known what they are saying.
Both men are now sitting at their respective tables, looking at their phones.
This comes ahead of the expected opening statements in the $1.6 billion defamation trial against Fox News.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis has formally named a special master to investigate whether Fox News withheld evidence from Dominion Voting Systems, according to court filings.
CNN reported last week that the judge was likely to launch this inquiry, which revolves around whether Fox intentionally suppressed evidence that it was legally obligated to provide to Dominion. The dispute escalated after audiotapes emerged of Fox host Maria Bartiromo talking to Rudy Giuliani in 2020.
The order, which was posted on the docket earlier in the day as jury selection began in the trial, directed attorney John Elzufon to lead the inquiry. Elzufon previously served as special master to handle routine evidentiary issues in the case.
Elzufon is required to finish his probe and submit a report by May 15.
The judge’s order indicates that the special master has the power to take depositions as part of his inquiry – and the special master will be allowed to depose anyone he thinks is appropriate.
Fox is required to pay for all expenses related to the investigation, according to Davis’ order.
Fox lawyers say they never withheld anything from Dominion, and that when new evidence emerged at a late stage, they turned it over as quickly as possible.
The court in the Dominion-Fox defamation trial reconvened as planned at 1:30 p.m. ET in Wilmington, Delaware, after a lunch break, but there has been an unexplained slowdown in the proceedings.
The trial has not yet moved to opening statements, though that is expected next.
Lawyers for both sides have been present in the courtroom since things reconvened about one hour ago.
They have been looking at their phones, talking among their colleagues and waiting.
The jury is not inside the courtroom.
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