In a scene more likely to be on Perry Mason than in real life, with only hours to spare, Fox Corp and Fox News settled the defamation lawsuit brought against them by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. By settling the suit now, right before the trial by jury was to commence, Fox avoids a trial that would have highlighted its coverage of false presidential voting claims in the failed 2020 Trump run for office. Dominion had sought $1.6 billion in damages in the defamation lawsuit, which was filed in 2021.
In the US, Fox News is the most widely watched cable news outlet. The trial was already being called “the media trial of the century” before it ended in a settlement.
The lawsuit against Fox resulted in the largest settlement in US history for a media group. The jury for the trial had been selected and sworn in only hours earlier in Superior Court in Wilmington, Delaware, when news of the massive settlement by Fox spread quickly.
Right after a lunch break, the court halted all proceedings, with the judge giving no reason. It was during those three hours that the two sides created their settlement agreement.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Dominion CEO John Poulos said the Fox settlement was “historic” and that “Truthful reporting in the media is essential to our democracy.”
"Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my company, our employees and our customers," Poulos said.
The historic settlement came in the nick of time, as the jury was chosen and the trial would have been potentially damaging to one of the largest media companies in the world. Attorneys were expected to call the most famous Fox media hosts to the stand, such as Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, and Tucker Carlson. The legendary founder and Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, 92, was also expected to testify.
Fox broke the news to its viewers on-air at 4:30 PM on the popular show “Your World” with anchor Neil Cavuto. Cavuto read the statement, saying, ”We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems," the statement said. "We acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOX's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”
Dominion sued Fox Corp and Fox News for defamation, claiming the company’s business was severely damaged by false vote-rigging news on Fox. The trial would have been a testing ground for American law because Dominion disputed the legality of Fox’s news in blurring the lines of reporting “ethical” journalism versus an aggressive pursuit of building higher ratings by the company.
Before this historic settlement, the second largest media payout due to a settlement was in 2017, when Walt Disney paid $177 million plus insurance costs to settle the infamous defamation suit against Disney’s ABC network by Beef Products Inc. In that case, ABC called the product “pink slime.”
In the Fox suit, Dominion had to prove to a jury that Fox showed “actual malice” in its reporting, meaning the media company was spreading lies or recklessly ignoring the truth.
Prior to the settlement, Dominion attorneys released evidence including numerous damaging emails, texts, and deposition statements, where Fox on-air personalities and Murdoch discussed understanding the election rigging claims were false. In court documents, Dominion claimed that Fox pushed lies to grow ratings and also keep its conservative viewers glued to the station.
Dominion is still suing Newsmax, One America News Network (OAN), and Trump associates Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell for defamation over falsehoods told on their right-wing networks over untrue voter tampering.
Fox is also involved in a second, similar defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic. This voting technology firm sued Fox, claiming the media outlet spread false allegations against it by knowingly spreading false victim-tampering lies.
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