Fox News settles Dominion defamation case for $787.5m

Fox News settles Dominion defamation case for $787.5m

Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion, a voting machine company, over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election. 

In a last-minute settlement, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m – about half of the $1.6bn initially sought by Dominion. 

The lawsuit argued that Fox News had sullied Dominion’s reputation by airing falsehoods about the 2020 vote being stolen from former President Trump. Dominion’s CEO, John Poulos, stated that the deal included Fox News “admitting to telling lies, causing enormous damage to my company.” 

Fox News said that the settlement reflected its “commitment to the highest journalistic standards,” adding that it acknowledged the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. 

Despite the pay-out, some legal experts believe the settlement was a positive outcome for the network as a verdict against Fox News could have been costlier and had serious implications on subsequent rulings on the actual malice standard and the First Amendment itself. 

Fox News still faces a second, similar defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7bn. Dominion still has litigation pending against two conservative news networks, OAN and Newsmax, and against Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.