Dominion's Historic Defamation Case Against FOX News Will Go To Trial

TITLE, continued:
"...judge rules, in major decision dismantling key Fox defenses."



It was a serious smack down, the judge in the Dominion defamation lawsuit, laid on FOX. Both parties had submitted requests for summary judgements, which would allow them to win, without needing go to trial. The judge soundly rejected FOX's whole defense, that they were only reporting on the fact that these allegations were being made, not on the truth or lack thereof, in the allegations. Going over a vast amount of pretrial evidence, the judge dismissed that as plainly out of synch with the way FOX had presented their coverage. The other part of the News network's defense had been that hosts were only offering their opinions, which are protected under the first Amendment. Again, the judge evaluated that that FOX had presented the story as fact, or fact mixed with opinion, neither of which qualifies for 1st Amendment protection from defamation claims.

It even gets better. The judge did accept that Dominion's evidence proved some of its claims. He said, for instance, that it was "CRYSTAL (judge's caps) clear" that there was no truth to any of FOX's claims about Dominion. FOX had not contested, any of Dominion's evidence, BTW. There is still need for trial, to resolve only 3 issues, which the judge felt were matters of opinion, so could not be factually decided by a judge. One of these, was the question of "malice." To prove malice, however, Dominion only need show that FOX knew it was spreading false information.

The jury, however, will be told of the questions, which the judge had already decided, in Dominion's favor. This also includes that Dominion qualifies for per se compensatory damages; that is, that FOX's charges are so central an attack on the company's reputation, that Dominion does not need prove actual damages. Another question for the jury to decide, will be how great should be the PUNITIVE damage award.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/03/31/media/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit/index.html

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New York(CNN)Dominion Voting Systems' historic defamation case against Fox News will proceed to a high-stakes jury trial in mid-April, a Delaware judge ruled Friday, in a major decision that dismantled several of the right-wing network's key defenses.

The judge's decision is a painful setback for Fox News and sets the stage for an agonizing, weekslong trial, where the network's highest-ranking executives and most prominent hosts could be called to the stand to testify about the 2020 election lies that were promoted on its air.

Both sides had asked Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis for a pretrial ruling in their favor, declaring them the winner. After thousands of pages of filings and exhibits, and a series of courtroom clashes, Davis decided the case should go to trial. But one question jurors won't need to weigh, he concluded, was whether Fox's claims about Dominion were true or false.

"The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true," Davis wrote.

Unless there is an out-of-court settlement — which is always possible — Davis' ruling means jurors will need to decide whether Fox News defamed Dominion by repeatedly promoting false claims that the voting technology company rigged the 2020 presidential election by flipping millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Dominion wants $1.6 billion in damages.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin on April 13 in Wilmington, Delaware.

 

I’m not a lawyer so I hope someone can explain what appears to be inconsistencies in our legal system. NBC literally edited the Zimmerman 911 call to make him sound like a racist, they actually created their own lies in their own studios, but a judge let NBC off the hook. Can someone here explain the differences?

 

If Zimmerman did not sue NBC for this, then it is irrelevant to this thread. If he had sued NBC, then you should be able to look up analysis of that case, in the news, which I imagine should clarify things for you, somewhat. If articles on that case, had it ever occurred, are too esoteric for your understanding, post them in this thread, w/ an alert to me, and I'll see if I can help.

Without those theoretical explanations, however, please do not try to derail this thread, with baseless speculations about other, past circumstances.

 

I’m not trying to derail this thread, the judge ruled a trial must take place and that seems to be the end of it unless lawyers on this board want to comment on the case. As a layman, I don’t want to spend time doing searches when it’s possible someone here can explain the differences in the two cases.

 

Hi, Steve N.

Unless I really misunderstood, all that's needed to answer your question is to note that it was not the same judge for both cases and Bob's you uncle.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

Whether you like it or not, it will go to trial, and a BIG LIE will be exposed.

If you were one of X million who believed/still believe Dominion voting machines were rigged, then you will soon be ridiculed.

 

Almost immediately. For trying to create a false equivalence to defend a corrupt and blatantly dishonest media outlet.

 

Damn, Bob's one of my uncle's too !

On the topic itself , sounds like Dominion has a strong case but defamation is a high bar so they must be on solid ground. regardless, I am sure unless there are major twists, this verdict, whatever it is, will be appealed.

 

Like these 3 mental deficients in Shasta County, California?

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/10/1162352172/shasta-county-dominion-voting-lindell-hand-count

 

Hi again, Hey Now.

There's a strong correlation, I believe, between the wealth available to the parties in a law suit and th number of appeals which will be filed after the initial verdict.

This case will not prove to be an exception.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

Trump; “Results of the presidential election must be known on election night”

_______

Huuuummm, how long “hand counting ballots”would take?

Also, would a hand counting voting system prevent X number of “irregularities”, such as; A losing candidate may claim that thousands of red or blue ballots were tossed in a dumpster?

 

I really don't think they've thought that through, even in a relatively tiny county like that....

They're counting machines, people... They read the ballot and add 1 to one of several possible buckets.

This isn't even the future... we've had machines like this for 50+ years.

I laugh that people that fear ballot counting machines probably put their credit card information on Amazon to buy things... Way scarier concept...

 

Just a wild guess, but perhaps Zimmerman (whoever that is) didn't file a defamation suit.

Taking someone out of context is showing weakness, imo, but I don't think it would qualify as libel or slander.

 

Try searching "NBC accused of slander or libel." Find proof that there was a case, then start a thread.

 

Was there a judge in the Zimmerman case? Was there even a case?

You seem to be slandering this judge.

 

There are less than 200k inhabitants in Shasta County, and likely only about 100k or les who vote. Based on the many audits after the fact in 2020, states like AZ and GA seemed to have managed that in a day or so.

 

It was hardly difficult to find a basic answer. The core reason appears to be that Zimmerman was deemed a public figure and so had the much harder task of establishing actual malice. I'd think it's also fairly obvious that there is also a significant difference between manipulation of a single phone recording and a long period of reporting based upon a whole set of entirely fictions claims.

 

I just googled Canada’s Federal Election, and their paper ballots are hand counted.

Also, in 2021, approx 250,000 Canadian poll workers were hired to hand count nearly 15 million votes.

Thus, in the U.S., how many poll workers would be needed to hand count nearly 150 million ballots?

Answer; Approx 2.5 million poll workers versus 900,000.

 

I would be surprised, if you and @Sleep Monster were unaware, that numerous studies have clearly shown that hand counting of ballots, results in more errors, than machine counting, so in less accurate results.

It would be ridiculous to sacrifice accuracy, for speed; it is not like we are going to take weeks off of the wait. What possible reason is there, that people would need to know the result, right away?

 

Do you think that FOX will now, finally try to settle? Just curious-- because, at this point, I doubt Dominion would be so foolish, to take whatever FOX might offer. With the punitive compensation award that I imagine this jury will award, they should really clean up.

 

Interesting. All these posters, with one exception, here that gallop to post divisive threads on this forum that link to Fox News seem to avoid this thread and topic like the plague. It's amazing how so many far right partisans and Ultra MAGA can just live in a bubble of choice....beauty of America.

 

If they settle, they will also want a gag order.....that's the part I totally feel is out of whack given that they clearly lied to appease their viewers and keep the eyeballs from leaving regardless of journalism ethics or news standards.

 

there may be a settlement before it gets to trial too

 

With all the news out there, what do you think is the minimum Dominion should consider, realizing they aren't that valuable a company and they aren't going to get 1.6 billion even with the friendliest jury in the world?

 

those numbers are so big, I would not know the answer