WILMINGTON, Del. – Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avoid a trial in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.
The stunning settlement came just as opening statements were supposed to begin, abruptly ending a case that had embarrassed Fox News for several months and raised the possibility that the network’s founder, Rupert Murdoch, and stars like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity would have to testify publicly.
“The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” Dominion attorney Justin Nelson told reporters outside a Delaware courthouse after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced the settlement.
Outside of the $787.5 million promised to Colorado-based Dominion, it was unclear what other consequences Fox would face. Fox acknowledged in a statement “the court’s decisions that found certain claims about Dominion to be false,” but offered no apology.
“We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, rather than through the acrimony of a divisive trial, will allow the country to move forward from these issues,” Fox said. His lawyers and representatives offered no further comment or details about the settlement.
Fox News representatives arrive at the Justice Center for Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. [ JULIO CORTEZ | AP ]
Asked by a reporter if there was “anything to this other than money,” Dominion CEO John Poulos did not respond.
The deal is a significant amount of money even for a company the size of Fox. It represents about a quarter of the $2.96 billion the company reported it earned last year before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a figure often used to approximate a company’s cash flow company
The settlement also follows a $965 million verdict handed down last year against Alex Jones by a Connecticut jury for spreading false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre.
Along with other ongoing lawsuits, the settlement shows that there is a real financial risk to conservative media peddling conspiracy theories. What is still unknown is how much of a deterrent this will be. Even as the Dominion case came up this spring, Fox’s Tucker Carlson aired his alternative theories about what happened in the insurrection of January 6, 2021.
Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion, arguing that the top-rated news outlet damaged the company’s reputation by planting false conspiracy theories that claimed its team swung the former president’s votes Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. Davis, in an earlier ruling, said yes “CLARIDELL” that none of the allegations about Dominion aired on Fox by Trump allies were true.
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Dominion set out to prove in the lawsuit that Fox acted with malice in making allegations it knew to be false or with a “reckless disregard” for the truth. He presented volumes of internal emails and text messages showing Fox executives and personalities saying they knew the allegations were false, even though the falsehoods were aired on shows hosted by Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeannine Pirro.
Records released as part of the lawsuit showed Fox issued the claims in part to win back viewers fleeing the network after it correctly called contested Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden on election night. A vice president of Fox Corp. he called them “MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS”.
During a statement, Murdoch stated that he believed the 2020 election was fair and that it had not been stolen from Trump.
“Fox knew the truth,” Dominion argued in court documents. “He knew the allegations against Dominion were ‘outrageous’ and ‘crazy’ and ‘ridiculous’ and ‘insane’. Yet he used the power and influence of his platform to promote this false story.”
Attorneys representing Dominion Voting Systems leave the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington, Del., after Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox News was settled just as the jury trial was set to begin Tuesday . [ JULIO CORTEZ | AP ]
Several First Amendment experts said Dominion’s case was one of the strongest they had ever seen. But there were real doubts about whether Dominion would be able to prove to a jury that decision-makers at Fox could be held liable for the network’s actions.
Dominion’s Nelson called the settlement “a tremendous victory” and noted that there are six more lawsuits pending over election claims.
“We settled because it was about accountability,” Nelson said in an interview. “Our goals were to make sure there was accountability for the lies and to try to get our client right. And we accomplished both goals.”
It’s hard to know what the deal will mean financially for Dominion. The company did not provide its most recent earnings, saying the numbers were not public.
In the weeks leading up to the trial, Davis significantly watered down Fox’s potential line of defense, including denying the network’s argument that it was only airing newsworthy allegations. News is not a defense against defamation, he said.
In a March 31 ruling, he pointedly called out the network for airing falsehoods while noting that false election claims still persist more than two years after Trump lost his re-election bid.
“The statements in question were dramatically different from the truth,” Davis said in that ruling. “Indeed, although not directly attributable to Fox’s statements, it is noteworthy that some Americans still believe the election was rigged.”
This artist’s sketch depicts Dominion Voting Systems attorney Justin Nelson, standing left, and Fox News attorney Daniel Webb, standing, speaking with Judge Eric Davis before finalizing the selection jury in Delaware Superior Court Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. [ ELIZABETH WILLIAMS | AP ]
In his defense, Fox said he was obligated to report on a president who claimed he had been cheated into re-election.
“We never reported that they were true,” said Fox’s attorney, Erin Murphy. “All we did was provide viewers with the true fact that these were allegations that were being made.”
Dominion had sued both Fox News and its parent, Fox Corp, and said its business had been badly damaged. Fox said the company overestimated its losses before agreeing to pay about half of what Dominion had asked for.
In a 1964 case involving The New York Times, the US Supreme Court limited capacity of public figures to sue for defamation. The court ruled that the plaintiffs had to show that the media published or broadcast false material with “actual malice,” knowing that the material was false or acting with a “reckless disregard” for whether or not it was true.
This has provided news organizations with strong protection against defamation lawsuits. However, the nearly six-decade-old legal standard has come under attack by some conservatives in recent years, including Trump and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who have argued to make it easier to win a defamation case.
“The biggest significance of the settlement … is that the high level of media protection in a defamation case remains intact for now,” said Doreen Weisenhaus, a media law instructor at Northwestern University. .
In documents released in recent months, Fox executives and anchors discussed how not to alienate the audience, many of whom believed Trump’s claims of fraud despite the lack of evidence to back them up. Fox’s Tucker Carlson suggested a reporter be fired for tweeting a fact-check debunking claims of fraud.
Fox News attorney Daniel Webb leaves the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington, Del., after Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox News was settled just as the jury trial was set to begin Tuesday. [ JULIO CORTEZ | AP ]
Some of the exposure was simply embarrassing, such as the disparaging behind-the-scenes views on Trump, whose supporters make up the core of the network’s viewership. Text exchanges disclosed as part of the lawsuit show Carlson declaring, “I hate him with a passion” and saying “we’re very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.”
Fox News announced the deal on Neil Cavuto’s afternoon news show. “It’s a done deal,” he said. “It’s a deal and at least for Fox, it looks like it’s over.”
But Fox’s legal troubles may not be over. He still faces a defamation lawsuit from another voting technology company, Smartmatic. His lawyer, Erik Connolly, said Tuesday that “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damages caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest.”
By DAVID BAUDER, RANDALL CHASE and GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press. Chase reported from Dover, Delaware. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
