I must say this is monumentally disappointing. If you’ve been following this case today, jurors were selected, a special master was appointed and then a delay came before opening statements. Now we find out that the case has settled, although at this moment a figure has not been announced. New York Times:
The judge in the Fox News defamation case said on Tuesday that the case was resolved, abruptly ending a long-running dispute over misinformation in the 2020 election just as a highly anticipated trial was about to begin.
It was a last-minute end to a case that began two years ago and after the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that peeled back the curtain on a media company that has long resisted outside scrutiny.
Details of the settlement were not yet known.
The agreement was reached a few hours after a jury in Wilmington, Del., was selected on Tuesday, just as opening statements were expected to begin. Lawyers for both sides had been preparing to make their cases to the jury, their microphones clipped to their jacket lapels.
The sudden settlement means no high-profile Fox figures — including those who privately expressed concerns about the veracity of claims being made on its shows — will have to testify. The expected witness list had included Fox executives, including Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, and the hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo.
It was the latest extraordinary twist in a case that had promised to be one of the most consequential against a media organization in a generation.
The trial had been expected to be a major test of the First Amendment, raising questions about whether defamation law adequately protects victims of misinformation campaigns. Dominion had sought $1.6 billion in damages.
While the settlement avoids a lengthy trial, it still results in a rare instance of accountability for attempts to delegitimize President Biden’s victory. Few people or organizations have faced legal ramifications for claims related to electoral fraud that were brought by former President Donald J. Trump or his supporters.
Two years and millions of dollars later and this anti-climax.
We will update this post as more details become available.
UPDATE: 1:30 p.m. PDT.
Don’t forget Smartmatic also has a bite at the cherry (and,as far as I can tell, the Speciak-l Master ain’t going away: he will be investigating ‘obstruction of justice’)
Keep watching this space – it’s not over yet
Well . Oh well. I guess lawyers hiding the salami never sanctioned??$
I’m more interested in finding out the details (hoping non-disclosure isn’t one). Fox apparently offered Dominion enough money, but there are more lawsuits in the pipeline. Thanks to Dominion we know a lot more about Fux and its talking heads and how they do “journalism.” While we wanted the schadenfreude of a trial, Dominion is a business and had to do what is in their interest. They’ve already performed a great service to the country through their discovery.