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A bombshell $787m settlement has been reached in the defamation trial between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News.
Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson, speaking outside court, announced the settlement amount of $787,500,000, the second largest in US history. “The truth matters, lies have consequences,” he said.
Despite acknowledging the Delaware court found some of its election reporting to be false, Fox News stopped short of formally apologising.
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.
Just before 4pm, Judge Eric Davis called the jury into the courtroom to inform them they could be excused.
“The case has been resolved and it’s been resolved because of you,” Judge Davis told the jury.
The settlement means top Fox News talent like Sean Hannity will avoid having to be potential witnesses in the most high-profile media trial of the decade.
‘We’re not done yet’
Speaking outside court after the $787.5m settlement was announced, Dominion Lawyer Stephen Shackelford said: “Money is accountability, and we got that today from Fox. But we’re not done yet, we’ve got some other people who have some accountability coming toward them.”
Dominion is also suing right-wing networks Newsmax and OAN for spreading lies about the 2020 elections.
Members of the Fox News legal team, including lawyer Dan Webb leave the courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, after the $787.5m settlement was announced.
Watch: ‘Lies have consequences’
Dominion’s attorneys speak outside the court in Wilmington, Delaware, after an historic $787.5m defamation settlement was reached with Fox News.
‘Lies have consequences’: Dominion announces settlement with Fox News
Representatives for Dominion Voting Systems delivered a statement after reaching a settlement with Fox News before opening arguments could begin in a $1.6bn defamation trial on Tuesday, 18 April. Dominion had accused Fox of airing of false claims that its machines were used to rig the US presidential election in 2020 in favour of Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Judge Eric Davis determined that statements made on-air about Dominion after the presidential election were false before the trial began. Click here to sign up for our newsletters.
Fox News and Dominion reach shock settlement in blockbuster defamation lawsuit moments before trial
Moments before opening arguments in one of the biggest defamation trials in US history were set to begin, Fox News agreed to settle a lawsuit from a voting machine company that accused the network of spreading false statements about its business in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
Alex Woodward has the full story.
Full statement from Dominion CEO John Poulos
“Fox and Dominion have reached a historic settlement.Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my Company, our employees, and our customers.
Nothing can ever make up for that.
Throughout this process, we have sought accountability and believe the evidence brought to light through this case underscores the consequences of spreading and endorsing lies.
Truthful reporting in the media is essential to our democracy. Dominion, our employees and our partners are grateful to the court for allowing the process for the truth to come out.
I cannot thank the election officials that we serve enough. Without them there is no democracy, and they work tirelessly to that end and deserve much better.
We are grateful for all the support we have received, grateful to our legal team, and want to acknowledge Staple Street Capital, who have been unconditional in their support to Dominion and our customers.”
‘I’m sorry, this is going to be difficult to say with a straight face’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper struggled to keep a straight face as he read Fox News’ statement on the $787m Dominion defamation settlement live on air.
“The settlement reflects — I’m sorry, this is going to be difficult to say with a straight face... this settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards,” Mr Tapper said.
Ex-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly calls settlement a ‘disaster’
Bill O’Reilly, who was the star anchor at Fox News for two decades with his show “The O’Reilly Factor”, said “nightmare will continue” at the network.
“Big energy in liberal media corridors as Fox News is punished for foolish coverage of the 2020 election,” Mr O’Reilly said in a statement on his website.
“This is what happens when money becomes more important than honest information. Since I left FNC (Fox News Corp), the template changed from ‘Fair and Balanced’ to ‘tell the audience what it wants to hear.’”
“Going forward, Fox News faces a similar lawsuit from the Smartmatic Company and perhaps thousands of lawsuits from Fox shareholders. What a disaster,” he said.
Fox News won’t apologise on air for false election claims under $787m Dominion settlement
Just hours before a trial was about to start in Dominion Voting Systems’s defamation suit against Fox News for its 2020 election coverage, the network reached a $787m settlement to avert further legal action.
Despite the settlement, there will be no retractions or on-air apologies on Fox, a source with knowledge of the agreement told The Independent.
The network, in a statement, admitted that a Delaware court found “certain claims about Dominion to be false”, but that’s likely as far as the broadcaster will go when it comes to considering its prominent role in broadcasting election conspiracies to viewers, despite records unearthed in the suit suggesting top figures at Fox knew such claims were false.
More details in our full story.
Fox News’ settlement makes for 20-times payout for buyout firm Staple Street
The deal between Fox Corp and Dominion Voting Systems has led to Staple Street Capital Group LLC, the small buyout firm that owns the company, scoring a $787.5mn windfall.
The amount is equivalent to 20 times the $38.3mn the New York-based private equity firm paid in 2018 to acquire a 76.2 per cent stake in Dominion. Staple Street has $900mn in assets under management, according to its website.
The $787.5mn Dominion will receive from Fox in the settlement, which also comes with an acknowledgement of a court ruling from its cable channel Fox News that it aired false claims about Dominion machines facilitating fraud in the 2020 US election, is about half the $1.6 billion in damages it was seeking in its lawsuit.
Dominion and Staple Street representatives did not respond to requests for comment on how much Dominion stands to receive after legal expenses and taxes.
Fox News’ largest media settlement in history fails to make headline on own network
Fox New’s historic settlement with Dominion Voting Systems with a $787.5m deal made headlines on almost all the media networks on Tuesday, except on the cable channel itself, whose mention of it was somewhat muted.
Hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, who had been expected to testify in the Dominion trial, did mention the settlement, the largest struck by an American media company, during their primetime broadcasts on Tuesday night.
Fox anchor Neil Cavuto broke into his headline news show “Your World” at about 4.30pm to report the settlement but ended up just reading the statement by Fox which said it was pleased to have reached an agreement to avert a trial and acknowledged the judge’s ruling that the claims about Dominion were false.
Howard Kurtz, the host of Fox News‘ MediaBuzz show, appeared on Cavuto’s show and during “Special Report with Bret Baier.” He read the Fox statement, but did not include the dollar figure of the settlement.
Fox News and Dominion reach shock settlement in blockbuster defamation lawsuit moments before trial
Moments before opening arguments in one of the biggest defamation trials in US history were set to begin, Fox News agreed to settle a lawsuit from a voting machine company that accused the network of spreading false statements about its business in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
Alex Woodward has the full story.
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2023-04-19 08:00:00Z
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