Legal Random, Random

[ti-amie]

Perhaps one industry in which you need some more regulation? Foreigners cannot own media outlets?
Throwing stuff out there. This guy's influence on the USA (and the world) is nefarious.

That was the case here until the skids were greased for Murdoch.

[ti-amie]

Fox and Dominion settle blockbuster defamation lawsuit for $787 million

A potentially explosive trial over 2020 election lies has fizzled out.
By ADI ROBERTSON / @thedextriarchy
Apr 18, 2023, 5:10 PM EDT

The Fox News defamation case was not, in fact, as entertaining as Succession. On the first day of trial, Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems, heading off a process that could have aired embarrassing revelations about the news giant. Dominion says the settlement included a $787 million payout — apparently enough to compensate it for months of false claims about the 2020 presidential election.

As The New York Times reports, a Delaware judge announced the settlement after a morning of jury selection and just before attorneys’ opening statements. The dismissal means Fox Corporation won’t have to put some of its biggest names on the stand, including chairman Rupert Murdoch and Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Dominion revealed the payment in a press conference. “Money is accountability and we got that today from Fox,” said Dominion attorney Stephen Shackleford, according to CNN reporter Oliver Darcy. Dominion had originally sought $1.6 billion.

In a statement, Fox News Media conceded parts of Dominion’s allegations in vague terms. “We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems,” it said. “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”

As alluded to by Fox, a judge had already ruled that Fox aired false claims about Dominion’s role in the election, including that the company had attempted to covertly engineer the defeat of former President Donald Trump. Dominion still had to establish that the statements were made with “actual malice,” a high bar that would require demonstrating Fox knew the statements were false or seriously doubted them. While it’s difficult to meet the actual malice standard, Fox was widely understood to be in a weak position. The case surfaced text messages revealing that Fox News stars like Carlson were ambivalent about promoting Trump’s election lies, and just before the trial, it was sanctioned for withholding evidence.

Fox still faces a lawsuit by another election tech company, Smartmatic. And in a statement to Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith, Smartmatic indicated it would continue its fight with Fox. “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest,” attorney Erik Connolly said, according to Smith’s Twitter feed. “Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy.”




https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/2368 ... al-averted

[ti-amie]

I dunno it still seems like chump change to me...

[ti-amie]

Teri Kanefield
@Teri_Kanefield@law-and-politics.online
I am going to be a stickler for using words correctly.

When you lose in a civil case, you generally have to pay money.

Paying money is a consequence. Dominion sued for money.

I've attached a copy of what Dominion demanded in its lawsuit.

(The demand is always more than they think they'll get.)

The consequence may not achieve what we were hoping it would achieve, but it was still a consequence and the logical outcome of a civil case.

It means Fox lost.



We can hope that there will be more far reaching consequences to Fox as a result of this lawsuit, and the Smartmatic suit coming up, but saving democracy is tedious work and up to each of us.

My husband was looking at the numbers and just told me that Dominion's peak revenue in 2022 was 17.5 million with 100 employees.

The settlement was for $787.5 million, which will take care of Dominion employees who were harmed.

The idea behind a lawsuit isn't to punish or hurt the bad guy but to make the injured party whole.

There are punitive damages, but generally the idea is that if you cause an injury you have to pay the cost of making the injured person whole.

Sometimes it takes a lot of money to do that.

[Owendonovan]

I dunno it still seems like chump change to me...

It is, Fox has $4B cash on hand for these types of things. Very disappointing settlement, no one has a spine any longer.

[ponchi101]

I wouldn't mind IF part of the settlement forces all the scum at Fox to go on the air and state that the election WAS NOT STOLEN.
I guess that won't happen.

[ti-amie]

When I last looked it seems Fox hadn't reported on it at all. That may have changed by now...

[ponchi101]

Then this had nothing to do with principle. If Dominion really wanted to have "its reputation back", part of the deal should be that Fox would have to show, to their viewers (everybody else knew that FOX was lying), that all the claims about rigged elections were false.
I guess $787.5MM makes up for surrendering your morals.
(I know I would).

[JazzNU]

This is a great settlement...and a settlement was always the most likely end to this. Fox settled too late and got the book thrown at them in that summary judgment and their asses exposed handily in discovery. I'm guessing they didn't get bad advice, but that good advice was ignored on the regular by Murdoch and other PTB.

Looking for a larger societal fix in a private suit is an idealistic goal. I've noticed too much lately that journalists are pushing their overall idealism entirely too much in their coverage, especially on legal matters they very clearly don't know enough about and it's clouding the way they frame their coverage. This was a realistic outcome and a good one. Understand that the one you wanted, especially the terms with which some were after, is, and I can't begin to stress this enough, HIGHLY UNLIKELY. The main thing that would've come out of winning a jury trial is more money.

[JazzNU]

A quick story - I had a friend in college who died during football practice. Quite a few NCAA rules were being violated by holding the outdoor practice in sweltering heat, but the trainers and coaches just ignored this, my friend had a severe asthma attack brought on by the heat and died as a result.

His mother sued the university. This was a preventable death and that was quite clear. She was offered a large settlement, the evidence was overwhelmingly not on the side of the university. She turned it down again and again because what she wanted more than anything was an apology. They offered a bigger settlement, but the university wouldn't give an apology other than being sorry his death occurred, not admitting their actions led to that death.

As his friend, I hoped that his mother would get the apology she was after especially to help her deal with her grief and hopefully move forward, but I was pretty sure that it wouldn't happen because an apology isn't really a remedy available in court. The money is the implied apology. Eventually after a good deal of time had passed, she was forced to accept the settlement by the judge because what she was after truly wasn't a remedy the court could provide whether she went to trial or took the settlement, the apology wasn't forthcoming.

It can be painful, but necessary to remember what can and cannot be gained by going to court in the US. And to remember that the public interest overlapping with a private case, doesn't make the case one solely about the public interest.

[Suliso]

What is the tax situation for a case like this? Do we winners have to pay half or so in income taxes?

[ponchi101]

On the other hand.
Alissyn Camerota (CNN) made it clear she feels this was a big win for Fox. No admission that they lied, their big stars did not have to take the stand, Dominion only got half of what they sued for, Fox did not even cover the settlement in their daily news.
I gather it depends on how you see it.

[ti-amie]

That Fox was not required to issue an apology is what galls me. I understand the point Jazz is making about her friend's mother but that is not comparable to this situation. It was abundantly clear from all of the emails that were made public that Fox made a conscious decision to lie to its viewers. Those lies led directly to January 6. Imagine if they'd said Mr. Biden won, and let's move on. The fact that everyone associated with the legal profession that I follow on Mastodon has spent the last day explaining why this is a good outcome over and over again proves that for many this decision didn't go far enough.

Yes, $787m dollars is close to a billion but as has been pointed out Fox will increase the carriage charges paid by cable companies to cover the cost to them. Since Fox is always part of whatever package you get from your cable company there's no way to get rid of them. Murdoch on the stand would've been amazing television but the public was denied the chance to see him try and worm his way out of what was proven by the inter-company communications.

There is another case where another company is suing for $2.7b coming up soon. We'll see if Fox listens to counsel and settles before a jury is chosen.

[JazzNU]

On the other hand.
Alissyn Camerota (CNN) made it clear she feels this was a big win for Fox. No admission that they lied, their big stars did not have to take the stand, Dominion only got half of what they sued for, Fox did not even cover the settlement in their daily news.
I gather it depends on how you see it.

This is an example of the idealism that I've noticed on some of the bigger legal cases seeping into their journalistic coverage.

And Dominion getting half of what they sued for is a win. If you think people tend to get the amount they sue for, I've got some startling news for you.

[JazzNU]

That Fox was not required to issue an apology is what galls me. I understand the point Jazz is making about her friend's mother but that is not comparable to this situation.

Sorry, but then you are missing the point I was making. I only shared the story because it was indeed relevant as I barely like to think about what happened, I still miss my friend and it's been 20 years.

You want an apology. That's not a remedy that a court gives. And more than that, this is a private case. The PUBLIC wants an apology and the PUBLIC was denied a chance to see Murdoch worm it's way out of this. This case was brought by Dominion, a private company, not the US Justice Dept or some other public agency that works in the interest of the public where what the public wants is one of the chief concerns. There is public interest in this case, but it is not a public interest case. College athletes in total would've been served by the university issuing an apology in my friend's case. But far more than that, it could've influenced judgments in the state going forward had they been forced to issue that apology if they had been found at fault. But that wasn't the interest at stake, it was state court with one private individual suing a private university. There was a public interest, but it wasn't a public interest case, just like with Dominion. And court ordered apologies is a concept that has gotten a decent amount of attention in legal theory because that is a remedy many are seeking when going to court even though they truly cannot get that there. But it's almost all theory, not practice.

If Dominion took this fight til the bitter end and lost because jury trials are never the slam dunk people assume they are and they went out of business as a result of not stopping litigation and taking the massive settlement when it was offered, the public would not care one lick about that. They'd think Dominion tried their best and at least they tried to take down Fox News. And they'd move on to the next case where someone can try to takedown Fox News. Because that's what this is about for the public. They want to stick it to Fox News any way they can. They want that result FOR THEM, not for Dominion. And that's why this isn't a public interest case. It's a private case where Dominion is trying to regain lost profit and has to think about how they continue forward as a company.