Dominion court filing Monday

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At this point the evidence out in the public from the filings is damning but the conundrum for Fox is that if they settle this now they still face the Smartmatic case which is equally rife with evidence. So, I guess, the question for Rupert is which move puts his empire in a weaker position...going to trial or settling with Dominion.

Either way $3 billion + punitive damages will likely put Fox into bankruptcy.

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A judge just delivered a crushing blow to Fox News in Dominion's defamation lawsuit
Story by jshamsian@insider.com (Jacob Shamsian) • 8h ago

A Delaware judge handed Dominion a major victory in its defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
The judge concluded Fox News made false statements and said the case will go to trial on a narrow set of issues.
At the same time, the judge denied legal claims made by Fox News and its parent company.

In a ruling Friday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric J. Davis concluded the right-wing media organization made false statements about the election technology company related to the 2020 presidential contest. Davis said the case would go to a jury trial, scheduled for April 17.

"The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true," Davis wrote.

In the same ruling, Davis denied all the claims from Fox News and Fox Corporation, which argued that Dominion failed to prove they should be held liable for the falsehoods. He wrote that Fox News did not conduct "good-faith, disinterested reporting" about Dominion.

"We are gratified by the Court's thorough ruling soundly rejecting all of Fox's arguments and defenses, and finding as a matter of law that their statements about Dominion are false. We look forward to going to trial," a Dominion spokesperson told Insider.

Dominion filed its lawsuit against Fox News, parent company Fox Corporation, and an array of individual hosts in March 2021, asking for $1.6 billion in damages.

It argued that the media organization defamed it after hosting Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, two conspiracy theorist attorneys who worked for then-President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Powell and Giuliani falsely claimed that Dominion flipped votes from Trump to now-President Joe Biden. Dominion alleges that Fox News's hosts should have never had them on in the first place, and either endorsed or didn't sufficiently push back against their false claims.

Friday's summary judgment ruling represents a setback for Fox News, which has said it was simply reporting on important claims made by the sitting president of the United States and argued that Dominion's lawsuit represents an assault on the First Amendment.

"This case is and always has been about the First Amendment protections of the media's absolute right to cover the news," a Fox representative said. "FOX will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press as we move into the next phase of these proceedings."

Davis wrote that a jury must decide whether Fox Corporation should be held liable along with Fox News; whether they acted with "actual malice," the standard in American libel law for defaming public figures; and whether Dominion incurred any damages.

While the election technology company asked for $1.6 billion in damages, arguing that Fox News's broadcasts have made it harder to get new business, Fox News has argued it was never worth nearly that much. Valuation documents indicate Dominion is worth less than $100 million, according to Fox.

Ahead of the ruling, both Fox and Dominion had asked for Davis to rule the case in their favor, with each side arguing the facts were so strong in their favor that the case didn't need to go in front of a jury.

Dominion's filings with highly embarrassing for Fox. They contained emails, texts, and other records showing that Fox News hosts, producers, executives, and other employees believed Powell and Giuliani were "crazy" and that their claims were false. Allies like Rupert Murdoch and Sean Hannity indicated they were "disgusted" by Trump's claims of election rigging, filings show.

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Going to trial in April unless a settlement is reached. If they settle Dominion then Smartmatic is up next with an equally huge and strong case. It's a lose/lose for Fox.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/media/fo ... index.html

'But in his Friday ruling, Davis said that the evidence Dominion presented shows Fox News aired falsehoods about the company.

“The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” Davis wrote.

While rejecting Dominion’s motion for a full-blown victory, the judge granted a partial win to Dominion on some key legal questions, which will give the company a boost at trial.

Davis determined that the Fox News on-air statements at the heart of the litigation were either factual assertions or “mixed opinion,” which might make it harder for Fox to defend itself in front of the jury. Fox had asked Davis to rule that the statements were “pure opinion,” and therefore couldn’t be defamatory under the First Amendment.

“The context supports the position that the statements were not pure opinion when they were made by newscasters holding themselves out to be sources of accurate information,” Davis wrong in his 130-page ruling.

The on-air statements, from various Fox News hosts after the 2020 election, had accused Dominion of rigging the election by flipping millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.'

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BOOM! Redacted portions ordered by Judge to be removed and shared with the public. Dominion's case that Fox lied repeatedly about the results of the 2020 election are now confirmed, in writing, by internal paperwork.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/electi ... -rcna77257

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Asking for testimony from top punditry in front of jury

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/media/fo ... index.html

CNN: Dominion Voting Systems said in a court filing Monday that it wants to put some of Fox News’ top executives and most well-known hosts on the witness stand when its $1.6 billion defamation case against the right-wing network goes to trial.

Among the network personnel that the voting technology company wants to call witnesses are Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott; Fox News President Jay Wallace; hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo, Laura Ingraham, and Bret Baier; and former executive Bill Sammon and politics editor Chris Stirewalt.

Dominion also said it wishes to call to the stand Abby Grossberg, the Fox News producer who filed lawsuits against the network last week that alleged network lawyers coerced her into providing misleading testimony.


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Dominion’s potential witness list, which is not final and will surely face legal challenges from Fox’s lawyers, is part of the routine process of haggling over witnesses while both sides prepare for trial.

HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 17: Tucker Carlson speaks during 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on November 17, 2022 in Hollywood, Florida. (Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
Tucker Carlson 'passionately' hates Trump, and eight more key revelations about Fox News from new Dominion filings
Dominion previously asked Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis to force Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch and chief executive Lachlan Murdoch to testify at trial, as well as board member Paul Ryan, the former House speaker. Davis has yet to make a decision on which witnesses he might compel to take the stand.

Fox News, however, did suggest it wants to put Scott, Wallace, Hannity, Carlson, Bartiromo, and Baier on the stand as witnesses.

Their strategy in possibly calling these witnesses isn’t publicly known. But in past court filings, Fox News has highlighted the fact that Baier said on-air shortly after the 2020 election that there weren’t indications of widespread fraud.

Both sides are also hoping to put on testimony from their handpicked experts who specialize in election statistics, the security of voting machines, journalism ethics, the impact of disinformation in public discourse, and more.

Fox News said it has journalism experts who will testify that its 2020 election coverage “did not depart from professional standards,” and that its election security experts can testify that “Dominion’s systems are riddled with security problems and vulnerabilities,” according to court filings.

Why Dominion wants hosts and executives to testify
Dominion said in court filings that its experts will describe how it would’ve been literally “impossible” for its software to flip millions of votes from Trump to Biden, which is precisely what many Fox hosts and guests suggested it did in 2020.

“[Rupert Murdoch] holds a special role at Fox Corporation, that he may be able to be compelled to be here,” Davis said at a hearing earlier this week, though he stressed that he hasn’t made decisions on witnesses yet.

Lawyers for Fox News urged Davis to reject these requests, arguing that it would put an “undue burden” on the Murdochs, and that they don’t have much pertinent information to testify about anyway.

(L to R) Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp and chairman of Fox News, and Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman of 21st Century Fox, walk together as they arrive on the third day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 13, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Judge in Dominion defamation case skeptical of Fox's arguments, as both sides seek a pretrial win
The Murdochs, top Fox News executives and many of its TV hosts have already sat for lengthy depositions– which revealed most of them didn’t believe the election-rigging claims that were being peddled on-air. Dominion is now seeking in-person testimony from many of these figures.

Both Fox News and Dominion asked Davis in court this week to declare them the outright winner without a trial.

Davis has yet to rule on the matter, but most legal experts believe the case will ultimately go to a jury trial if the two sides do not reach a settlement before mid-April when a trial is scheduled to start.

Dominion has alleged in its lawsuit against Fox Corporation and Fox News that during the 2020 election the right-wing network “recklessly disregarded the truth” and pushed various pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the election technology company because “the lies were good for Fox’s business.”

Fox News has maintained that it is “proud” of its 2020 coverage and has said Dominion’s lawsuit could weaken the First Amendment. Fox News has argued that it can’t be held liable for airing inherently newsworthy allegations from public figures that Dominion rigged the 2020 election, even if those claims were false. Fox News has also argued that Dominion’s request for $1.6 billion in damages is a wildly inflated figure, citing the company’s previous valuations.

Fox Corporation, the right-wing channel’s parent company, was also named in the lawsuit. Fox Corporation has argued that Dominion overstated its role in Fox News’ editorial coverage of the 2020 election and asked to be dropped from the lawsuit – but the judge let the case move forward.