Dominion Voting Systems Defamation Trial Against Fox News Begins Monday in Delaware
Fox News reached a last-minute $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday, ending a high-profile defamation trial in Delaware just as opening statements were set to begin. The case stemmed from Fox's post-2020 election coverage, in which a pretrial ruling found 20 Fox broadcasts contained false claims that Dominion had rigged the election. The settlement is the largest publicly known defamation payout by a media company in U.S. history and spares Fox executives and on-air personalities from testifying, though the network will not be required to issue on-air corrections.
Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems announced a $787.5 million settlement on Tuesday, resolving a landmark defamation lawsuit just as the trial was about to begin in Wilmington, Delaware. The deal was struck during an unexplained nearly three-hour pause after the jury had already been sworn in, with settlement papers signed just minutes before the announcement. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had previously ruled in a pretrial decision that all 20 statements cited in Dominion's lawsuit were false, and Fox's statement acknowledged 'certain claims about Dominion' were found false by the court. However, Fox's prominent anchors and executives will not be required to make on-air admissions of wrongdoing as part of the settlement terms. Dominion CEO John Poulos stated that Fox 'admitted to telling lies' about the company, while lead counsel Justin Nelson called the outcome a vindication of truth and accountability. The $787.5 million figure, while roughly half of the $1.6 billion Dominion originally sought, surpasses the previous record media defamation settlement of $177 million paid by ABC News in 2017. Fox News still faces a separate $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from voting technology company Smartmatic, and Dominion has ongoing suits against Newsmax, OAN, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell.
What's missing
The settlement terms do not clarify whether any non-monetary conditions — such as editorial policy changes or future coverage guidelines — were agreed upon beyond the financial payment and Fox's written acknowledgment of false statements.
What different sources said
- CNN WorldLeft
Analysis: Fox News is about to enter the true No Spin Zone
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