Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News have struck a $787 million settlement in their defamation trial.
The agreement resolved a dispute over whether the network and its parent corporation deliberately broadcast false and implausible claims that Dominion was involved in a scheme to steal the 2020 election.
Dominion filed a lawsuit against Fox News in 2021, seeking $1.6 billion in damages. It claimed that the network slandered it by broadcasting false claims that it was linked to late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, that it paid kickbacks to politicians, and that its machines “rigged” the 2020 presidential election by shifting millions of votes from Trump to Joe Biden. Dominion’s lawyers said that the alleged falsehoods against the corporation had been repeated so many times that they had become institutionalized.
The agreement was reached prior to scheduled opening comments and following an unexpected lengthy delay Tuesday afternoon, just after the jury was sworn in. Other than the financial amount, neither party immediately released the terms of the settlement, and Dominion attorneys declined to answer questions about whether it required Fox to make a retraction or a public apology.
The trial had been been due to begin at 1.30pm with opening statements, but the start was delayed for nearly two and a half hours as attorneys for both parties engaged in last-minute negotiations.
In a statement released to address the settlement, Fox News fell short of taking accountability of its 2020 presidential election coverage.
It read;
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.
“This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”
The settlement amount of $787,500,000, is the second largest in US history.
Dominion is however not the only voting machine company suing Fox. London-headquartered Smartmatic, a multinational firm that makes electronic voting systems, is also pursuing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox in the New York Supreme Court.