By David Bauder, Randall Chase and Geoff Mulvihill | Associated Press
WILMINGTON, Del. — Fox and Dominion Voting Systems reached a settlement Tuesday in the voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit, averting a trial in a case that exposed how the top-rated network chased viewers by promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election.
The New York Times reported that Fox settled for $787.5 million.
Dominion had asked for $1.6 billion in arguing that Fox had damaged its reputation by helping peddle conspiracy theories about its equipment. Fox said the amount greatly overstated the value of the Colorado-based company.
The settlement was announced by the judge in the case, who allowed the case to go to trial while emphasizing that it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the allegations about Dominion aired on Fox by allies of former President Donald Trump were true.
Records released as part of the lawsuit showed how Fox hosts and executives did not believe the claims by Trump’s allies but aired them anyway, in part to win back viewers who were fleeing the network after it correctly called hotly contested Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden on election night.
If accepted by the judge, the settlement will end a case that has proved a major embarrassment for Fox News. If it had gone to trial, it also would have presented one of the sternest tests to a libel standard that has protected media organizations for over half a century.
Several First Amendment experts had said Dominion’s case was among the strongest they had ever seen. But there was real doubt about whether Dominion would be able to prove to a jury that people in a decision-making capacity at Fox could be held responsible for the network airing the falsehoods.
Ultimately, there appeared to be too much at risk for both sides to allow them to put the case in the hands of a jury.
Dominion accused Fox of libel for repeatedly airing, in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election, false allegations…
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