Case On Point
US Dominion, Inc.v. Fox News Network
(Del. Sup. Ct. 2023)
The law of defamation balances the First Amendment right to free speech and societal interests in protecting reputations against unfair attacks. Recently, US Dominion settled its defamation lawsuit against Fox New Network for hundreds of millions of dollars. The lawsuit was based on Fox's broadcast of false statements regarding the integrity of Dominion and its voting machines in the 2020 presidential election. The parties' use of a mediator on the eve of trial was credited with facilitating the sttlement. What got a lot less attention, though, was the court's decision on the parties' summary judgment motions significantly limiting the scope of issues to be submitted to the jury. The court's key rulings were:
- The challenged statements were statements of fact (not opinions, which cannot be the basis for a defamation claim); and
- All of the statements were false as a matter of law.
These rulings left only two issues for the jury to decide:
- Did Fox broadcasters make the statements with malice, defined as "knowledge that [they were] false or with reckless disregard of whether [they were] false or not?
- If so, what damages did Dominion suffer?
While the court did not find "malice" as a matter of law, its opinion recounted numerous instances of Fox announcers expressing disbelief about the election fraud claims and disregarding the results of various investigations rejecting those claims. Fox had little to gain from going to trial which would have focused on its broadcasters' disregard for the truth.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
