Fox News Settles Dominion Defamation Lawsuit for $787.5 Million
Fox News has agreed to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle claims that the network had caused material damage to its business via defamation.
Dominion had accused Fox and its parent company, Fox Corp, of damaging its business by airing baseless claims that its voting machines were used to rig the 2020 presidential election in favour of then-candidate Joe Biden and against former President Donald Trump, a Republican. Dominion was seeking $1.6 billion in damages relating to these false statements.
The settlement was reached ahead of a looming six-week trial in Delaware. In a major pretrial ruling on 31 March, Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that Dominion had successfully proven that all 20 statements mentioned in its lawsuit against Fox were false.
Fox acknowledged the outcome in a statement on 18 April following the settlement: “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”
Though this case is now settled, Fox News faces another defamation lawsuit from voting technology company Smartmatic for $2.7 billion. Legal experts speculate that Smartmatic may intend to use the Dominion settlement as ammunition during negotiations, proving Fox’s willingness to settle for large sums.
