The start of the libel trial against Fox News has been delayed until Tuesday
Stephen BattaglioApril 16, 2023
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.