FOX - Fox News defamation trial delayed on reports of settlement push

2023-04-17 00:05:18 ET

• The landmark trial between Fox News ( NASDAQ: FOX ) ( NASDAQ: FOXA ) and Dominion Voting Systems, the voting-machine company suing the network for $1.6B in damages for defamation, was set for a high-profile start on Monday -- but at the eleventh hour it was delayed to Tuesday amid reports that Fox is making a late push to settle the case.
• The trial is likely to test long-held notions of media law and include a star-studded witness list that may include Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Maria Bartiromo and even Fox chief Rupert Murdoch.
• But Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis pushed the start of the trial to Tuesday morning -- and Fox was pressing for an out-of-court settlement of the issue, and headed toward a Monday meeting to discuss it, according to media reports .
• Dominion has accused Fox News of issuing false claims that the voting-machine company worked to rig the 2020 election in favor of President Biden. Its officials have said they won't settle without a broad apology and admission from Fox that it aired false information about the company.
• And Dominion has scored a number of pretrial victories; recently, the judge granted summary judgement to Dominion on its false-statements claims, saying "The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that it's CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true."

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