The beginning of the

much expected

The trial of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation case against Fox News has been postponed until Tuesday, an indication that the two sides may be working on an out-of-court settlement.

In a note from the Delaware Superior Court, Judge Eric Davis will announce Monday that the start of the trial has been pushed back to Tuesday.

The court gave no reason for the delay and representatives from both sides declined to comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported this on Sunday

Unpleasant

anonymous sources said Fox News lawyers made a belated effort to settle the high-profile case that has left the conservative channel in deep embarrassment.

The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corporation, which is also controlled by Fox Corp. President Rupert Murdoch.

A last-minute settlement wouldn’t be shocking to First Amendment lawyers who have been following the case and were somewhat surprised

the

one had not

yet

reaches.

Fox News may be highly motivated to settle as Davis sanctioned the defendants for the failure, so include evidence that should have been fed into the discovery process.

Davis also expressed displeasure with the way Fox News lawyers defined it

Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert

Murdoch’s role with the network.

Fox News lawyers had said that Murdoch had no officer title with the network, which is not true that he is an executive chairman. Fox News formally apologized to the judge on Sunday.

Dominion accuses Fox News of reinforcing false allegations made by Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudolph Giuliani in the weeks following the 2020 election that the company’s machines manipulated votes to help elect President Biden.

There was no evidence of widespread voter fraud or wrongdoing by Dominion.

C

is

On the contrary

were fact-checked by some Fox News journalists and the network’s own investigative arm.

Dominion said Fox News acted out of fear that the MAGA faithful would drop out and move to the conservative network Newsmax, which was gaining popularity

viewership

at the time.