Dominion Defeats Fox. The Parties Settled Today. What Happened, and Why? An 8 minute summary.

The Dominion Lawsuit Against Fox News, April 18, 2023

As a part of the Big Lie conspiracy theory, that Donald Trump had won the 2020 Presidential election but it had been stolen from him, Fox News began to feature attacks on Dominion Voting Machines.  They said that Dominion machines had “flipped” millions of votes from Trump to Biden, thus stealing the election.  Needless to say, this would destroy Dominion’s credibility, especially in Red States.  

Dominion sued for $1.6 billion. 

Legally, there were two dimensions of this lawsuit:  First, did the evidence show that Fox had indeed defamed Dominion?  And if so, how much should the damages be? 

On April 18 the trial began.  Everyone was expecting a six week drama.  But before the opening statements could be delivered, the judge announced there had been a settlement.  This podcast tells you what happened.  

Under court rules, the elements of a settlement are private and do not have to be revealed unless the parties agree to reveal them.  Sometimes there is a non-disclosure component to a settlement.  The public may not even know of such a provision unless the parties reveal its existence.  

Please note that Smartmatic also has a $2.7 lawsuit against Fox.  And Dominion has outstanding lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell.  

Also note that  Alex Jones lost a lawsuit that cost him $1.4 billion dollars for saying the Sandy Hook killings were fakes.  No one thinks he will ever pay it.  But Fox is a rich and powerful corporation with deep pockets. 

Also note that while most Americans have multiple sources of news, 75% of conservatives rely heavily upon Fox News.   And Fox wants to keep it that way.  Fox executives live in fear that they will lose their viewers to their smaller rivals Newsmax or Oan.  There is a furious race to hold onto the kooky element who believe that 135% of all eligible voters in Detroit actually voted in 2020.  (Note:  It was actually around 55% turnout).  

Glitch:  That famous Supreme Court case about defamation is NYT v Sullivan.  In my rush to get this finished the same day as the settlement, I got that wrong.  (If Fox had been as honest about their mistakes as I am, they would have 3/4 of a billion dollars more in their bank account than they do now). 

Note:  Recorded on cell phone.