Fox News ended up paying Dominion Voting Systems more than $787 million on Tuesday thus concluding a gigantic two-year lawsuit that openly tattered the right-wing network’s reliability.
A groundbreaking settlement
The deal was announced hours after the jury was sworn in at the Delaware Superior Court. Rumors of a settlement swirled in the courthouse when, after a lunch break, the proceedings dramatically ground to a halt for nearly three hours with no explanation, while the parties apparently hammered out an accord.
“The parties have resolved their case,” Judge Eric Davis said, before dismissing the 12-member jury, crediting them with giving the parties an impetus to reach a settlement, effusively praising the lawyers from both sides and gaveling out the so-called media “trial of the century” before it could even begin.
The groundbreaking settlement “represents vindication and accountability,” Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson said. “For our democracy to endure for another 250 years, and hopefully much longer, we must share a commitment to facts… Today represents a ringing endorsement for truth and for democracy.”
Fox News Trouble
The right-wing network said in a statement that it “acknowledge[s] the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”
It is referring to Davis’ recent ruling that 20 Fox News broadcasts from late 2020 contained blatantly untrue assertions that Dominion rigged the presidential election. But Fox News won’t have to admit on-air that it spread lies about Dominion, a Dominion representative told CNN.
The $787.5 million payout is roughly half of the $1.6 billion that Dominion initially sought, though it is nearly 10 times the company’s valuation from 2018, and roughly eight times its annual revenue in 2021, according to court filings.
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