On December 16th, a judge in the for the Superior Court of the State of Delaware denied Fox News’ request to have a $1.6 billion defamation suit filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems dismissed.
In March 2021, Dominion sued Fox News for defamation, arguing that network hosts, including Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and others, falsely claimed that the company’s technology helped rig the election in favor of Joe Biden.
In a 52-page decision, which included transcripts of Fox News hosts statements, Judge Eric Davis writes that it is “reasonably conceivable that Fox’s reporting was inaccurate.”
In his decision, Davis notes that before Dominion filed its suit, it had sent the network and its anchors information that disproved the false claims that were being aired on Fox News. “Fox possessed countervailing evidence of election fraud from the Department of Justice, election experts, and Dominion at the time it had been making its statements,” the judge wrote. “The fact that, despite this evidence, Fox continued to publish its allegations against Dominion, suggests Fox knew the allegations were probably false.”
“The Court can infer that Fox intended to avoid the truth,” Davis wrote. “Whether Dominion ultimately will prove Fox’s actual malice by clear and convincing evidence is irrelevant on a motion to dismiss. … Accordingly, Fox’s Motion should be denied.”
In a statement, Fox News said it will continue to fight Dominion’s suit. “As we have maintained, Fox News, along with every single news organization across the country, vigorously covered the breaking news surrounding the unprecedented 2020 election, providing full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear-cut analysis,” the company said. “We remain committed to defending against this baseless lawsuit and its all-out assault on the First Amendment.”
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