Smartmatic

• 31, 2022, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled that the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting brought against Fox News and Fox Corp. will go to trial in April.
• Hagens Berman is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders and investors based on Fox’s admittedly knowing false news reporting, including that by Fox News’ highest-rated prime time host (Tucker Carlson), while recklessly exposing Fox Corporation to substantial liability for defamation of Dominion Voting Systems.
• 18, 2023), Dominion announced that Fox agreed to pay $787 million to settle Dominion’s claims against it.
• “We are focused on whether Fox knowingly published false news and the impact on its business and reputation,” said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.

• 31, 2022, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled that the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting brought against Fox News and Fox Corp. will go to trial in April.
• Hagens Berman is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders and investors based on Fox’s admittedly knowing false news reporting, including that by Fox News’ highest-rated prime time host (Tucker Carlson), while recklessly exposing Fox Corporation to substantial liability for defamation of Dominion Voting Systems.
• 18, 2023), Dominion announced that Fox agreed to pay $787 million to settle Dominion’s claims against it.
• “We are focused on whether Fox knowingly published false news and the impact on its business and reputation,” said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.

• The packed court room was waiting for the lawyers’ opening statements in the defamation case launched more than two years earlier by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News.
• Then, without warning, the judge announced the two parties had agreed to settle.
• And what promised to be six weeks of the biggest media circus of recent times was abruptly cancelled.
• Moreover, at the end of such a case Fox would definitely appeal, pushing any finality well into the future.

The case against Fox

• Fox said Dominion was valued at about $226 million in run-up to 2020 election.
• In contrast, Fox News knew it was almost certain to lose.
• He also said Fox as broadcaster was responsible for what its interviewees said, as well as what its own employees said.
• Dominion had already driven a discovery process, which put on the public record many telling internal communications of Fox employees.
• The resolution requires a great deal of something that Fox News has in wheelbarrows (money) and very little of something it has in teaspoons (editorial integrity).

What does it all mean for Fox and Murdoch?

• Dominion lawyer Stephen Shackleford said: “Money is accountability, and we got that today from Fox, but we’re not done yet.
• Both are much smaller than Fox, and one suspects a financial settlement such as the one Dominion and Fox have just consummated could be financially ruinous, even fatal, for them both.
• Dominion is also suing the two most frequent interviewees on Fox, both at one stage Trump employees – Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
• The last individual being sued by Dominion is Mike Lindell, the owner of My Pillow, and Fox News’s biggest sponsor.
• Presumably, however, the starting point for their settlement will be the amount Fox gave Dominion.
• Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch told a business group Fox had around US$4 billion (A$5.98 billion) in cash.
• Fox News is in big trouble if they do not expose the truth on cheating in the 2020 election.

• Fox issued a vaguely worded statement confirming the merits of Dominion’s defamation claims – “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false” – but was not required to make on-air apologies or corrections.
• With that, the lawsuit that captured public attention for two years ended.
• The issue is not truth, alone, but whether false statements harmed the plaintiff’s reputation, and whether the news organization was at fault for publishing those statements.
• All that remained for a jury to decide was whether the statements were made with actual malice.
• Actual malice is the legal standard established by the Supreme Court in 1964 in New York Times v. Sullivan that applies to public officials and public figures.

The facts were on Dominion’s side

• Dominion had a tremendous advantage on the eve of trial.
• Pretrial discovery revealed a trail of texts and email messages that documented the doubts of executives, editors and pundits at Fox about the veracity of the claims of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 elections, of which Dominion was supposedly an integral part.
• Those critics must be dismayed that Fox and its employees will not be raked over the coals and otherwise humiliated in the court of public opinion, as well as in the courtroom.

Disinformation was at the heart of the case

• But those who are disappointed may have been seeking more from this case than a libel suit can deliver.
• For many, it had become a surrogate for their unhappiness – or even incandescent rage – directed toward Fox for its editorial positions.
• In other words, it was about disinformation and the people who are persuaded by it.
• Many people would like to ban disinformation.
• Smartmatic, which builds electronic voting systems, has a pending libel suit against Fox and is poised to continue the battle.