$1.6B Dominion suit against Fox News could go to trial next month: report

A $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by an electronic voting hardware and software company against Fox News will go to trial next month unless a judge issues a summary judgement in the case, CBS News reports.

Dominion Voting Systems filed the 2021 lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company Fox Corporation alleging the right-wing news outlet made false claims over the 2020 election and provided guests a platform from which they could propagate falsehoods and defamatory statements.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis was expected to issue a ruling on requests for a summary judgement after a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, the report said. Dominion and Fox News each made separate summary judgment requests.

Should the case go to trial, Dominion will be required to prove that Fox News acted with “actual malice,” meaning it will have to demonstrate that the cable network knowingly made false claims or acted with reckless disregard in spreading unfounded fraud allegations.

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Attorneys representing Fox argue that the case doesn’t meet that standard, since it was merely reporting the allegations of a sitting president and his legal team which had news value.

Dominion’s attorneys allege Fox dropped the ball by failing to characterize the allegations they knew to be false as such.

"Media companies may always report the truth, including reporting on false allegations while explaining that the allegations are false, and Dominion did not sue the many media companies that did just that in 2020," Dominion’s attorneys said.