Dominion v Fox - Dominion Voting Sues Fox News for $1.6B over 2020 Election Claims in Delaware

[Maybenaut]

“Justice” in an adversarial system is always in the eye of the beholder. Whether it’s a civil or criminal case, there is always someone who is going to be dissatisfied to some degree with the result. That’s true even in the case of a mutually agreed-upon settlement or plea bargain. There will always be people who think justice wasn’t served in a given case.

That’s why, for me at least, the process is far more important than the ultimate result. There was a lot revealed during the course of this litigation about what Fox knew and what Fox did. The judge granted summary judgement in Dominion’s favor on some pretty damaging stuff. As far as I know, none of this is under seal, and the terms of the settlement are not confidential. And there’s possibly more coming, depending on what the special master’s investigation uncovers (not to mention other pending litigation).7

The decision to settle was Dominion’s to make and they made it. Over three quarters of a billion dollars is a lot of money, even for Fox. And it’s an admission, no matter how they might try to spin it in the future. We learned a lot in the process. I can’t say that justice wasn’t served.

[Sam the Centipede]

I agree with neonzx that it's a win. Consider possible plausible alternatives. Fox could have offered a similar amount early on with a non-disclosure clause and a few non-apologies ("we are sorry we gave too much prominence to unverified assertions" etc.) which Dominion accept on the basis that they don't fancy a fight, not their line of work.

Or if guess to trial and enough of the jury side with Fox and/or some notion of untrammeled freedom of speech that Dominion lose. Agh! (Would some sort of non-unanimous verdict have been acceptable?)

We have been deprived of the mud-wrestling and rotten fruit throwing that we desire. But it's a win, and there's more to come in the other cases.

Well done Dominion and their (undoubtedly now very rich) lawyers!

[Uninformed]

Dominion have, quite rightly, done what they considered best for themselves and I can’t really object to that.
What is so frustrating is knowing that Rupert Murdoch, whilst happier if the case had “gone away” or been settled for less, was fully aware that he had the wealth to stop the case at the time he considered most advantageous/necessary.
I have no idea what the effects of this or the other impending suits will have on “Fox” but I’m pretty sure Murdoch sees it as just the cost of doing business, and will continue making money whilst peddling his agenda to an all too gullible audience. Thank dog he is 92, as the best hope is that his successor(s) may not be so proficient at being utterly unprincipled.

[busterbunker]

I hate those last-minute settlements, while the hearing is in session. So unrewarding.

Sometimes the enemy of your enemy isn't really your friend.

[Luke]

I agree with Maybenaut and with Neon that it's a WIN. And if Dominion had gone through trial, inevitably there would be lengthy appeals and who knows what else before they got the money. Easily could have been a year. So a bird (cash) in the hand is worth two in the bush. I hope lead counsel for Dominion screamed into the phone with the Fox people (better yet, Rupert himself), "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" like Tom Cruise did in Jerry Maguire.

Fox will still be going through some things, the Special Master, the Abby Grossman lawsuit, and shareholder lawsuits. All these will use Fox's public admission acknowledging they spread false information. We'll definitely hear more about that and it will be nice.

And Smartmatic's case is just as bad if not worse for Fox. Smartmatic was only in LA County in the 2020 election, yet Fox broadcast all sorts of lies about them, including accusing them of having machines in other jurisdictions.

IIRC Fox has about $4.5B in cash and cash equivalents. $787M is a good chunk. But as with Alex Jones, more judgments are coming. Of course, they can weather it, but they now may be retraining their people and perhaps learning to restrain themselves in their coverage or face this again. Fox is nowhere near being off the hook, terrible publicity will be coming their way. And the more Settlements, the more it will sink into the public.

As for other defendants, Dominion is going after OAN, Newsmax, Squidney, Roodles, and of course Mike Lindell. The heart of these cases is all going to be about election lying, and now that Fox has admitted they did it and they were lies, I'd expect those decisions to factor in the other cases.

Added Dominion v Squidney Powell to https://www.protopage.com/birthers. It has Lindell, Roodles, and OAN as well. Now it's easy to look up the status and what's been filed, they're in one place with links.

The Dominion v Newsmax lawsuit is also the Superior Court of Delaware and the same Judge, Eric M. Davis. So the docket isn't on Court Listener, with these DE cases you have to pay which is a shame. https://casetext.com/case/us-dominion-i ... -media-inc

[Volkonski]

I am no legal expert but I was surprised that Fox settled for such a high dollar amount.

I expected Fox to fight to the last penny.

[MN-Skeptic]

[sugar magnolia]

A question for the lawyers. If the case had gone to trial would the Judge even be able to require an apology from FOX? I thought plaintiffs could only get what they asked for in the lawsuit. Did Dominion ask for a public apology and I just missed it, or can the Judge actually add requirements they didn't ask for?

[realist]

I'm as bummed as anyone else, but I'm not surprised it settled, even when it did. It's just about the money. Smartmatic will likely be the same.

Much smaller $$ though.

Smart matin is actually suing for more than Dominion did. $2.7 billion.

[Kendra]

Superior court here in Wilmington, Delaware has posted the judge’s order relieving the special master of his duties in Dominion v Fox News civil suit

Trial transcript is posted too. Makes it official: settlement was formally announced at 3:55p Tuesday. Ending a landmark case

[Jim]

I'm as bummed as anyone else, but I'm not surprised it settled, even when it did. It's just about the money. Smartmatic will likely be the same.

Much smaller $$ though.

Smart matin is actually suing for more than Dominion did. $2.7 billion.

Well. using the same formula that they did to come up with Dominion's $787.5 million settlement, that should leave Smartmatic with about $1.2 billion. Costing FOX around $2 Billion overall.

[bob]

If the case had gone to trial would the Judge even be able to require an apology from FOX? I thought plaintiffs could only get what they asked for in the lawsuit. Did Dominion ask for a public apology and I just missed it, or can the Judge actually add requirements they didn't ask for?

There's inevitably boilerplate language at the end of a lawsuit that says (words to the effect of) the plaintiff is seeking, "Any relief the court deems just."

This could include a retraction, or a public repudiation of the published false statements.

But an apology? Extremely doubtful.

Dominion got FOX to acknowledge the judge's findings of falsity. Given Dominion's fiduciary duty to its shareholders, forgoing an apology for more money makes a lot of sense. As Dominion's lawyers said, the money is the apology.

[Luke]

You called it on the SM, Chancery

Even the Gateway House of Boys knows what a win this was for Dominion and what it portends for the Hoft Bros. Although one MAGAt totally misunderstood and said Fox won and the case was dismissed. It's hard to tell if it's stupidity or calculated disinformation (or both), these kinds of fake news tweets get tons of likes because they reinforce confirmation bias. Of course, when the event never happens, they pretend like they never said it.

Mainstream Media Celebrates FOX News Settlement with Dominion Voting Machines
By Joe Hoft Apr. 19, 2023 9:45 am

The Mainstream Media (MSM) was overjoyed with the news that FOX News settled with Dominion Voting Machines for $787 million dollars. CNN was so happy they were giddy. Former Politico journalist, Jake Tapper, smiled as he shared the results and almost laughed. “I’m sorry. This is going to be difficult to say with a straight face.”

Jake Tapper can’t help but laugh at Fox News’ statement after reaching a $787 million settlement with Dominion. pic.twitter.com/GpOQTGyMSx
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 18, 2023

ABC was quick to share the news. Dominion’s CEO said that FOX admitted to telling lies about Dominion.

BREAKING: Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos calls settlement with Fox News “historic,” adding: “Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my company… nothing can ever make up for that.” https://t.co/0hppoGCI1J pic.twitter.com/6ieXrHXEGL
— ABC News (@ABC) April 18, 2023

SKY News reported that the case had been dismissed and Twitter felt compelled to correct the report and state that the case was settled. Here is the tweet:

Democrats big mad Dominion blinked and decided not to go to trial. Case against Fox is dismissed. Boom!
pic.twitter.com/snfZUDpBG7
— @amuse (@amuse) April 18, 2023

MSNBC equated the Dominion lawsuit announcement to the selection of a Pope at the Vatican: It was that kind of day, everybody waiting for a Vatican like puff of smoke”.

Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems announce settlement in historic defamation lawsuit. @nicolledwallace leads continuing coverage. https://t.co/RdYLvfuTRC pic.twitter.com/0500nGhfgU
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 18, 2023

FOX News rolled over. How embarrassing. By doing so they gave the MSM everything they ever wanted. Wow.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/0 ... ox-news-se

So much crytyping going on. Delicious.

Dunford is talking about the case on Twitter, seeing it as a huge win and really the best outcome Dominion could get for its shareholders.

[Suranis]

Darnit.

I mean its understandable and blah blah blah, but goddamit I had frogmarching fantasies.

[Luke]

Jeepers Forgot Dominion is suing Patrick Byrne too also. Added that to the https://www.protopage.com/birthers page. Patrick's a ways away, next is Deadline to Serve Document Requests under Fed. R. Civ. P. 34: May 5, 2023. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap ... 6.42.0.pdf

Quite the payday for Dominion and it's backers:

Fox News settlement turns Dominion into private equity gold
Dan Primack

Staple Street Capital bought Dominion Voting Systems in 2018, with a $38 million equity check and an $80 million enterprise value. It might have been the best private equity deal ever.

Driving the news: Dominion yesterday agreed to drop its defamation lawsuit against Fox News, in exchange for $787.5 million. The settlement came just as opening arguments were set to begin, with high-profile witnesses like Rupert Murdoch waiting in the wings. Fox News acknowledged in a statement that the court found that it aired false claims about Dominion, but it did not apologize. The settlement does not require Fox News or anchors like Maria Bartiromo to tell on-air viewers about the falsehoods.

By the numbers: Denver-based Dominion will be required to pay taxes on its windfall, plus give a hearty portion to attorneys. But this is still a massive amount of cash for a company of its size. Dominion currently generates around $45 million in annual EBITDA, up from $10 million in 2018, according to comments this morning from Staple Street co-founder Hootan Yaghoobzadeh on CNBC. In terms of revenue, Forbes once reported that Dominion generated $118.3 million for the three-year period between 2017 and 2019. Fox Corp. has just over $4 billion of cash on hand, and may have an insurance policy that helps it defray some of the settlement costs.

Look ahead: Yaghoobzadeh told CNBC that settlement proceeds will be distributed to shareholders, adding that Dominion management and employees "own a very significant stake in the business." Dominion also has pending defamation lawsuits against right-wing cable news networks Newsmax and One America News (OAN), plus against Overstock.com founder and former CEO Patrick Byrne, pillow magnate Mike Lindell, Rudy Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell. Fox News, meanwhile, remains subject to a $2.7 billion defamation complaint brought by election tech company Smartmatic. It also was recently sued by a former producer for allegedly trying to manipulate her pre-trial testimony in the Dominion case, and some shareholders reportedly are agitating for more records related to the Dominion situation.

The bottom line: Staple Street had a growth plan for Dominion, which the EBITDA increase indicates was successfully executed. But what moved this from a decent private equity deal into an all-timer were Fox's lies and Dominion's insistence on getting payback.

https://www.axios.com/2023/04/19/fox-ne ... quity-gold

More fun to come.

[Wendybird]

Well I feel much less gutted today.
It was my own unrealistic expectations that did me in. Hooray for Dominion for pressing it's case and getting so much damaging info on the lying liars that is now on the record. I hope their lawyers' work will help with other cases, and I hope their success continues against the other Big Lie aiders and abettors they are suing.
I especially liked the Mike Dunford thread up above.
Thank you, Fogbowers!

[noblepa]

Well, I'm gutted. I let myself believe Dominion would include insisting on an on-air apology. I thought Dominion would only settle for the 1.6 billion PLUS an on-air apology. I clearly thought wrong. Fox will just play this off and go back to business as usual. Their idiot customers will never be the wiser.
Oh well.

To be honest, I doubt having Tucker, Hannity, and all the others make daily apologies will make a dent in their customers' beliefs. They only will hear what they want to hear and ignore everything else.

I agree. Fox viewers will continue to believe TFG's lies, regardless of what Fox or the Murdoch's do.

Had Fox agreed to on-air apologies, the viewers would not believe them. They would believe that even Fox had succumbed to the power of the "deep state" and capitulated in a cowardly fashion.

So, on-air apologies would not have changed any MAGAt minds. It would have just proved that the government wouldn't "allow" Fox to tell the truth.

[bob]

Heck, FOX's voluntarily settling already is being spun as pwoof of the Derp State's power.

[AndyinPA]

https://wapo.st/3KPwnOk

Gifted link.

Fox was resigned to a tough trial. Then, a secret mediator stepped in.

[keith]

I'm as bummed as anyone else, but I'm not surprised it settled, even when it did. It's just about the money. Smartmatic will likely be the same.

Much smaller $$ though.

Smart matin is actually suing for more than Dominion did. $2.7 billion.

They'll settle for less. IMHO

[Suranis]

Oh God. DUMTUS is going to claim he was a secret mediator, isn't he?

[bob]

DUMTUS is going to claim he was a secret mediator, isn't he?

Perhaps; but it actually was Jerry Roscoe (of JAMS).

[Phoenix520]

The others that Dominion is still going after don’t have Faux’s deep pockets. At least one of them will be bankrupt when it’s over.

[Kendra]

First segment of Deadline WhiteHouse with guest host John Heilman dove into this, Heilman had a member of Dominion's legal team on. Really good discussion and I enjoyed her viewpoints.

Anderson Cooper has an interview with Gretchen (I forget her last name), former Fox host on tonight. Sounds like she might drop some tidbits.

[northland10]

The others that Dominion is still going after don’t have Faux’s deep pockets. At least one of them will be bankrupt when it’s over.

DominionPillows.