Live Updates: Fox News Settles Defamation Suit, Averting Trial

[Drum]

Source: New York Times

Fox News reached a last-minute settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which accused Fox News of pushing conspiracies that harmed the company.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/18/business/fox-news-dominion-trial?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[Marthe48]

1. Somebody blinked

n/t

[Mr.Bill]

3. I'm sure it was Fox.

I'm also sure we will never know what the settlement was.

[Beachnutt]

5. And they ll go right on lying like hell

to their sheep.

[agingdem]

10. I suspect the additional evidence

Last edited Tue Apr 18, 2023, 04:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Grossberg had was so damning FOX had no choice but to settle...and when I say settle Rupert will more than likely have to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars and the FOX asshats will probably have to apologize to Dominion on the air...

[moniss]

24. Many millions and

most of what was unearthed here can be used by Smartmatic in their suit also. Altogether I would say between the two suits we are over a billion in damages paid.

[agingdem]

42. I should proof my posts...thank you

I just wish the settlement payouts are so big Rupert has to shutter FOX...not going to happen

[moniss]

49. I hope after these other lawsuits

that they terminate some of these "talents" that host these shows.

[The Grand Illuminist]

39. They won't apologize.

They are good at maintaining ignorance.

[agingdem]

46. I predict FOX will declare victory...

Last edited Tue Apr 18, 2023, 07:47 PM - Edit history (1)

if the money settlement is less than $1.6 billion...I can hear those on-air FOX asshats now.."Dominion wanted $1.6 billion but they settled for $787 million..so we won"...

[Rebl2]

16. I doubt it too

[Rebl2]

20. Doubtful

I would have preferred they went to trial.

[Scrivener7]

32. 787.5 million.

[Mr.Bill]

33. They just about met in the middle.

Very disappointed here.

[former9thward]

68. Both sides blinked.

That is what settlements are.

[SouthernDem4ever]

72. What really sux about all this is we have to pay for that lawsuit

through our cable bills.

[mobeau69]

2. Shit.

[rurallib]

13. I'll second that

Dammit! I wanted a public exposure of Fux

[crickets]

29. I know. I was so hoping that Dominion would hold firm. AGH!

So disappointing.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Here is the link

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/18/business/fox-news-dominion-trial/fox-news-dominion-defamation-trial?smid=url-share

[Lasher]

6. Here's a Reuters story:

Dominion defamation case against Fox resolved, judge says

WILMINGTON, Delaware, April 18 (Reuters) - Fox Corp (FOXA.O) and Fox News have resolved a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems, the judge in the case said on Tuesday, averting a high-profile trial putting one of the world's top media companies in the crosshairs over its coverage of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 U.S. election.

The resolution, whose terms were not immediately disclosed, was announced at the 11th hour, with a 12-person jury selected on Tuesday morning and the case poised to kick off with opening statements on Tuesday afternoon. Dominion had sought $1.6 billion in damages in the lawsuit filed in 2021, with Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis presiding over the case in Wilmington.

Davis had ordered a one-day trial postponement on Monday before the delay on Tuesday, apparently as the two sides hammered out a deal.

The deal spares Fox the peril of having some of its best-known figures called to the witness stand and subjected to potentially withering questioning, from executives including Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old media mogul who serves as Fox Corp chairman, and Fox CEO Suzanne Scott as well as on-air hosts including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/dominions-defamation-case-against-fox-poised-trial-after-delay-2023-04-18/

[BumRushDaShow]

7. CBS News has a non-"live updates" / non-paywall story

Fox News, Dominion Voting Systems reach lawsuit settlement in high-stakes defamation case

By Melissa Quinn, Clare Hymes

Updated on: April 18, 2023 / 4:05 PM / CBS News

Washington — Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News have reached a deal to resolve the $1.6 billion defamation case the electronic voting company brought against the cable news giant over unfounded accusations broadcast on its air that Dominion helped rig the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced that the "case has been resolved" after bringing the jury and 12 alternates back into the courtroom following a lengthy break in proceedings.

The details of the settlement are unclear, and the case's resolution came on the first day of the trial in Delaware Superior Court. A 12-member jury and the alternates were seated in the morning and sworn in, after which lawyers for the two sides were set to deliver opening statements Tuesday afternoon. The settlement brings an end to what was expected to be a six-week trial.

The start of the trial had already been delayed by one day, from Monday to Tuesday.

This is a developing story.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fox-news-dominion-voting-systems-lawsuit-settlement/

[Layzeebeaver]

8. good for dominion, bad for America

I would have preferred a trial.

[InstantGratification]

15. Yes

I would love for Dominion's evidence to go into the trial record where everyone could point to it and say "see, it's right in the court transcripts, you can't call that fake news."

[applegrove]

9. Being forced to tell the complete truth in front of a judge, Fox settles. N/T

[applegrove]

30. Dominion has more cases to file they say. They are about voting systems.

I wonder who else will be sued?

[moniss]

51. They likely will go after the liars like Powell, Ghouliani etc.

and Newsmax etc.

[onetexan]

71. Yay!!

[SunSeeker]

86. And they're suing the My Pillow guy, Mike Lindell. nt

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

75. Lots of liars to choose from

When it comes to the traitor party.

[Chainfire]

11. Thank goodness, justice is averted again!

[rurallib]

14. And once again rich white men buy their way out of a jam.

[Chainfire]

18. All the justice money can buy.

[old guy]

55. Right. Who knows what evil would be unleashed if there was real justice.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. No!! We wanted a trial to show the world what liars Faux News is!

[mobeau69]

19. If they don't know by now they refuse to know.

[ToxMarz]

17. Would have really enjoyed this going to trial, but

at least this spares us from a travesty of justice by the very Un-Supreme Court on appeal

[Mr.Bill]

21. Next up, Smartmatic.

Come on down!

[Shermann]

22. I expect that Dominion got a fat check, and Fox got favorable terms

Dominion is a for-profit company at the end of the day.

The defamation claim is legitimate, but I doubt there was any real priority on clearing up the misinformation. The mouth-breathers who believe that crap generally don't buy voting machines. They can go on believing whatever they want to believe.

Fox can go on spewing whatever they want to spew, but their profitability can get checked from time to time (ala Alex Jones).

[Wild blueberry]

23. Damn

Unless Fux is required on Every show to issue a clear statement of how they lied about Dominion, for the next six months.
Every show.
Grrrrr.

[MustBeTheBooz]

25. And yet again...

The lying liars that lie to the detriment of the country face no real consequences. This country is broken.

[oldsoftie]

26. The judge imposed a special master to investigate Fox's actions.

That still stands.
And the Smartmatic case is still pending.
But I hope this agreement includes an admission by Fox.

[moniss]

27. The shame is

that we the public won't see the mountain of other evidence. I'm sure keeping that under wraps was a large part of this.

[ShazzieB]

77. Right?

I was SO looking forward to that.

[ificandream]

28. And here is Fox's website acknowledging the settlement (/sarcasm)

Of course, they haven't.

[mwooldri]

37. Exactly.

Go to any other non NewsCorpse website and it's the lead story of the moment. Even Sky News - which used to be a Murdoch outfit (now owned by Comcast).

[BumRushDaShow]

31. ABC news stream saying $787 million settlement

(have to watch at youtube)

[SunSeeker]

44. Fox has $4B cash on hand. $787.5M is the cost of doing business for Fox.

Accountability is just for us little people.

[BumRushDaShow]

54. I had seen an analysis the other day

that said that even the $1.6 billion wouldn't be much of an issue for them.

HOWEVER.... don't forget this -

Fox News must face Smartmatic's lawsuit over election-rigging claims
By Jonathan Stempel

November 8, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton


NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A New York state appeals court rejected Fox News' bid to dismiss a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit accusing the network of falsely accusing an electronic voting systems company of helping rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election to favor Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

In a 5-0 decision, the Appellate Division in Manhattan said Smartmatic USA alleged in "detailed fashion" how Fox News and some anchors and guests "effectively endorsed and participated in (defamation) with reckless disregard for, or serious doubts about" whether the company engaged in election fraud.

Smartmatic had sought $2.7 billion in damages, saying Fox News knowingly lied about its technology and how it was used in order to boost ratings, and keep Trump supporters from defecting to the right-wing networks Newsmax and One America News.

Fox News (FOXA.O) has long said its job was to inform the public, and that airing fraud claims was protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

(snip)

https://www.reuters.com/legal/fox-news-must-face-smartmatics-lawsuit-over-election-rigging-claims-2023-02-14/

That will be coming soon at a (political) theater near you...

[Quanto Magnus]

62. I wonder

if they'll try to write this off on their taxes as a 'cost of business'

[patphil]

34. Dominion gets a pile of cash, but FOX is the real winner here...unless they had to admit wrongdoing.

Which I doubt. They're not going to have to clean up their act either.
The real losers here are the American public. FOX will continue to spread lies every day in every way, and we'll have to put up with the truth about them never being fully told.
They very smartly did it to protect their bottom line. No matter what the cost, it's still just the price of doing business to them.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

38. They admitted it in their statement and pooped "highest standards" on top of the admission. . nt

[BumRushDaShow]

40. During the press statement

they indicated that Faux admitted to their stories about Dominion being "false".

Fox, Dominion reach settlement over false election claims

By DAVID BAUDER, RANDALL CHASE and GEOFF MULVIHILL7 minutes ago

(snip)

In a statement issued shortly after the announcement, Fox News said the network acknowledged “the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” It did not respond to an inquiry asking for elaboration.

(snip)

https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe

That's probably more than they would have normally admitted to publicly, which is probably why Dominion went with it (vs the usual "the company acknowledges no wrong-doing" or equivalent)...

[patphil]

45. Good, at least we get that much.

[BumRushDaShow]

60. Almost all civil settlements like this

(at least that aren't sealed) have some kind of stipulation that "admits to no wrong-doing". So even going that far was significant.

[Ligyron]

35. I wonder if any evidence Dominion had that we haven't heard can be made public?

That what we all wanted to hear more of during any trial ... the RW Stars painting their audience as rubes and fools with a few more labels like "dumbasses" thrown in for good measure.

[BumRushDaShow]

36. Dominion-Fox News live updates: Settlement reached for $787.5 million

Dominion-Fox News live updates: Settlement reached for $787.5 million

The voting company has sued Fox for $1.6 billion over false election claims.

By Aaron Katersky and Olivia Rubin
Last Updated: April 18, 2023, 4:20 PM ET


Dominion Voting Systems, in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit, accused Fox News of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that the voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden's favor, in what Dominion claims was an effort to combat concerns over declining ratings and viewer retention. Fox defended its coverage, dismissing the suit as a "political crusade in search of a financial windfall."

(snip)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/dominion-fox/?id=98632690

[kimbutgar]

41. Will Fox have to admit they lied and announce on all shows they lied

That is the only justice that needs to be done. Run full programs saying they lied and TFG lost the election and President Biden was elected fair and square.

[SunSeeker]

48. Nope. No admission. No apology.

[kimbutgar]

50. Thats bull shit!

[BumRushDaShow]

58. They actually admitted "publicly'

Last edited Tue Apr 18, 2023, 09:18 PM - Edit history (1)

that they "agreed" that -

“the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”

ETA to fix link - https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe

Probably 99% of settlements have some statement that "admits to no wrong-doing", so this went way beyond that (in a relative sense).

[SunSeeker]

81. No, they absolutely did not say they "agreed" with the ruling.

They only admitted the ruling exists. That is what "acknowledge a ruling" means.

Acknowledge is not the same as agree.

[BumRushDaShow]

83. Probably 99% of civil settlements

include a statement that almost always says "we admit to no wrong-doing".

THAT did not happen here.

The fact that they admitted to (versus "disagreed with" ) what the Judge deemed - that "certain claims about Dominion to be false", is literally earth-shattering for a company like this. You would be loathe to get anything more than that out of them. Up until today, they were insisting that their programming was "opinion".

[SunSeeker]

85. Lawrence O'Donnell made me feel a lot better tonight.

He pointed out that Dominion's brilliant lawyers had already gotten Rupert Murdoch on the record at his depo admitting that Trump's claims against Dominion were false. And those attorneys aren't done; they will now litigate their defamation claims against Giuliani and the My Pillow Guy idiot.

And, he pointed out that today, Fox for the first time talked about the case on air. They had their so-called "media reporter," Howard Kurtz, speed talk his way through a brief statement that the case had settled (he didn't say for how much). In so doing, he did mention what the case was about, namely "whether Fox was reckless in reporting former President Trump's claim that Dominion machines were flipping votes to Biden," of which he quickly said, "that's obviously false, those were conspiracy theories."

Granted it was at mid-afternoon at one of the lower viewership hours (Cavuto's Your World show), but getting any Fox personality to say "that's obviously false, those were conspiracy theories" is a victory for truth, and for America.

[BumRushDaShow]

89. Excellent!

Glad that Lawrence pointed out about some of the drip drip drip that has already gone on, particularly ahead of the trial.

The former producer who provided some "smoking gun" recordings, was literally about to whip out some more material as I heard earlier. She supposedly had a "non-functional", Faux-provided cell phone that she was able to get 2 audio files extracted from (thanks to a recovery service), and that she had claimed she had offered to the Faux lawyers for discovery purposes, and they dismissed her offer.

I am an early bird but on big news nights TRY to stay up long enough to listen to him but didn't get chance (had listened to Nicolle earlier).

[SunSeeker]

82. The plaintiff was a corporation.

Last edited Tue Apr 18, 2023, 11:03 PM - Edit history (1)

To them, money mattered more than spanking Fox. Ultimately, Dominion is devoted to their bottom line, not the needs of our democracy.

[TwilightZone]

57. They did acknowledge that the court's rulings that they lied were accurate.

It's part of their statement. I suspect that was part of the settlement.

From NYT: "We acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false."

[thesquanderer]

73. "We acknowledge" does not mean "we agree with." Weasels to the end. n/t

[SunSeeker]

80. Fox "acknowledged" a ruling. That just means they admit the ruling exists.

They did not admit they lied.

[The Grand Illuminist]

43. There is an illusive benefactor(s) involved.

This is not good.

[aggiesal]

47. From Stephanie Ruhle's twitter feed ...

$787.5mm is NOT $1.6bn
HOWEVER-
Dominion gets the $$NOW.
If this went to a full trial...there could have been appeals and postponements for years & years.....

Link to tweet

[FeelingBlue]

52. I am so...

DISAPPOINTED!!!

I was looking forward to the admissions of deceit.

[BumRushDaShow]

59. They did admit it

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3062215

[Vinca]

53. When this broke, Fox continued covering the "border crisis." Figures.

[TheRickles]

61. Will they ever mention this in their coverage? If so, they'd probably spin it as a victory for Fox.

[Nelliedog]

63. Damn - what am I gonna do with all this popcorn?

n/t

[moniss]

64. Faux as usual is using weasel words

because in their statement they say they "Acknowledge the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false". First of all to the best of my knowledge the court did not rule about whether a claim was true or false but rather whether the various matters and evidence gathered could be presented in the case for the jury to decide whether claims were true or false and whether there was defamation and if so the damages and remedies.

Secondly the question wasn't just whether the claims were true or false but rather that Faux knew they were false and yet persisted in running them anyway. Just like they did about Seth Rich and so many other matters. Nowhere in their statement do they actually acknowledge that aspect. The statement they did issue sounds like someone made accounting errors.

[Javaman]

65. so they admit that they lied. but there was no public trial about their bullshit

I guess 787 million is the price a corporation pays to continue to lie and destroy democracy.

[twodogsbarking]

66. What about Rudy and Pillow Guy?

[SunSeeker]

87. Dominion's lawyers said they are going after them next. nt

[nycbos]

67. Most cases are settled out of court.

Because juries are unpredictable. Dominion didn't want to risk the chance that they might not get anything.

[Major Nikon]

74. Yesterday I predicted they would settle soon

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3061919

What was working against Dominion is they had to get a unanimous jury verdict and that just wasn't going to be easy. All it would take is one GQPer that lied during jury questioning. Getting close to a billion dollars and an admission of wrongdoing is quite remarkable and a lot more than I figured they would get.

Meanwhile this is only the first chapter of the financial disaster facing Faux. Smartmatic is suing them for $2.7 billion and Bow-tie-boy's producer is suing them. Their long slow cactus fucking is just getting started.

[nycbos]

76. I didn't think you needed a unanimous verdict in civil cases?

I thought that was just for criminal cases.

[Major Nikon]

88. Generally speaking, no

According to CNN in this case a unanimous verdict was required.

[nycbos]

90. Because of the amount required?

[Major Nikon]

92. I have no idea

Just heard it mentioned in the news cycle

[trof]

69. ratz

[republianmushroom]

70. money talks

the bottom line.

[cstanleytech]

78. I wonder if they settled for fear that a trial might also reveal collusion with the Trump campaign?

[Mosby]

79. You couldn't find a site that's not paywalled?

[Stuart G]

84. K & R.... Thank You for Posting This

[Wonder Why]

91. Here's another IMPORTANT reason why Dominion may have taken the cash

From Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/legal/foxs-7875-million-settlement-is-big-win-buyout-firm-staple-street-2023-04-18/]

April 18 (Reuters) - Staple Street Capital Group LLC, the small buyout firm that owns Dominion Voting Systems, has scored a $787.5 million windfall after Fox Corp (FOXA.O) settled a defamation lawsuit brought by the voting machine operator.

The amount is equivalent to 20 times the $38.3 million the New York-based private equity firm paid in 2018 to acquire a 76.2% stake in Dominion. Staple Street has $900 million in assets under management, according to its website.

Mark Hauser, managing partner of Hauser Private Equity, welcomed the settlement news.

"We are very pleased with the outcome and think that Staple Street has handled the situation very well on behalf of their investors. We’ve had a relationship with Staple Street since 2014 and think highly of their management team," he said.

Seems like a private equity owner was more interested in the cash for its investors than one realizes.