Fox News is reportedly seeking to settle the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought against it by Dominion Voting Systems just before the high-profile trial was set to begin. The lawsuit alleges that Fox News and Fox Corp. defamed Dominion when it hosted conspiracy theorist lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who spouted falsehoods about the company to millions of viewers in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Fox News has argued that it was simply reporting on newsworthy claims made by the sitting president, Donald Trump.
The last-minute delay of the trial by Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis has been seen by some as a setback for Fox News, which has been facing damaging revelations about its hosts, executives and producers in court filings. According to the Washington Post, lawyers for both sides were scheduled to meet on Monday to determine if they can broker a last-minute deal. Fox has been pushing Dominion to settle the case out of court, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Legal experts have said that Dominion has enough evidence to win the case, provided it can prove that Fox News acted with "actual malice" — a legal standard meaning that the media outlet knew it was lying or recklessly disregarded the truth. Defamation lawsuits are difficult to win in the US because of the country's strong free speech protections. However, victories for plaintiffs in defamation lawsuits are often overturned upon appeal.
Fox News is not the only media outlet facing lawsuits from Dominion. The company has also filed defamation lawsuits against Newsmax and One America News, as well as other conspiracy theorists including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. Smartmatic, a rival election technology company, has a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and Giuliani.