Fox News Network on the brink of financial ruin
Defamation suits by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic USA Corp. will cost billions
Fox News Network is destined to lose twin defamation cases brought by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic USA Corp against the company and its galaxy of Trump poodles for falsely and repeatedly publishing one Donald Trump’s most unhinged Stop the Steal claims: namely, that the voting machine businesses rigged their hardware or software to count Trump votes for Biden on an industrial scale.
Yesterday, a Delaware court denied Fox’s motion for summary judgment against Dominion, set the case for trial, and prohibited Fox from disputing that its repeated publications that Dominion’s voting machines were rigged were false statements of fact, not protected opinion.
All that will be necessary for Domination to prevail at trial is to show that Fox knew their statements were false or acted with reckless disregard of whether they were true or not. That hurdle will be easily surmounted based on the United States Supreme Court decision in St. Amant v. Thompson (1968). There, the Court explained, among other things, that knowledge or reckless disregard could be inferred if a defamatory statement was “inherently improbable.”
Fox had more than ample reason to believe its voting rigging accusations against Dominion and Smartmatic were facially absurd. Trump’s Stop the Steal soundtrack had been rejected by 61 courts representing the full spectrum of federal and state judges, including multiple Trump appointees. Hand recounts verified the reliability of the voting machines. No evidence at the time of the Fox defamations or later showed that a single Trump vote was recorded as a Biden vote by Dominion or Smartmatic. Even Trump’s executive branch appointees like Attorney General William Barr and United States Attorney in Atlanta BJay Pak found the Stop the Steal claims concocted. Trump’s Cybersecurity expert Christopher Krebs asserted that 59 election security experts found no credible evidence of computer fraud in the 2020 election outcome.
Fox’s CEO Suzanne Scott, in a stream of intramural communications, made explicit that Trump’s Stop the Steal claims must be published irrespective of truth or falsity to prevent its audience from fleeing to Newsmax or One America News, both notorious megaphones for Trump’s fabrications.
In sum, Fox’s liability to Dominion and Smartmatic is a sure thing. The magnitude of the damages awards is uncertain. Dominion is seeking $`1.6 billion, and Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion. Punitive damages are likely because Fox’s knowingly false publications lacked even a crumb of plausible truth—like accusing Mother Teresa of mass murder.
A Delaware jury will decide Dominion’s claim, and a New York jury will decide Smartmatic’s. Biden defeated Trump handily in 2020 in both the states.
The overwhelming law and facts against Fox may prompt it to seek settlements to avoid bankruptcy and the further tarnishing of its brand at trials. But a party cannot be forced into a settlement. I think Dominion and Smartmatic have too much invested in their cases to walk away as visions of running victory laps imminently dance in their heads.
Lots of stuffed mail in ballots however 🤔🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The defamation suits raise concerns about the balance between protecting freedom of the press and preventing the spread of false information. A potential question that arises is what kind of precedent this case might set for future defamation suits against news organizations and how it could impact journalistic practices.
I wonder what arguments or legal precedents Fox News Network is using to defend itself against the defamation charges and how convincing these arguments might be, especially considering that Dominion and Smartmatic may not be open to a settlement.