A Delaware judge allowed Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News to proceed, striking down the conservative network’s claims while finding in favor partly for the aggrieved voting machine company.
Summary:
Defendants can’t dispute the falsity of any of the allegedly defamatory statements.
Fox News can’t dispute its responsibility for publishing the defamatory statements. This is kind of a big deal because Fox wants to argue that they were just reporting what people like Rudy and Sidney were saying.
Fox Corp. can still dispute its responsibility as a publisher.
Dominion gets to put on its case for damages, and Fox gets to put on its contravening damages case.
That last issue, in my estimation, is the best defense Fox has at trial, because there is no way Dominion is worth anywhere $1.6 billion. It can take a $50 million hit without blinking.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled in favor of Dominion on one point: that public statements made by Fox employees about the voting machine company were completely false.
Mark this day, March 31: A judge ruled that the lying liars at fox “news” are a bunch of lying liars who tell lies that are completely false. All these lying liars still have jobs there, right?
In the actual trial before jury part, I’m foreseeing a lot of “Objection! … Sustained.”
Are punitive damages allowed in cases like these?
Does Dominion need to be ‘worth’ 1.6 Billion? In most lawsuits, part of the payment is recompense for monetary damages, but not all. Part is recompense for intangible harm, and part is punishment.
Holy Cow! This today. T rumpp’s indictment yesterday! The long wait is finally starting to pay off!
So much winning!!!
“Even if the neutral report privilege did apply, the evidence does not support that FNN
conducted good-faith, disinterested reporting,” Davis wrote. “FNN’s failure to reveal extensive contradicting evidence from the public sphere and Dominion itself indicates its reporting was not disinterested.”
I doubt the $1.6bil is limited to the current total worth of their company, but adds in future losses from contracts they will lose because of Fox.
Plus punitive damages.
Here is a good description of what happened with the judge’s rulings:
“Wreckless disregard for the truth” = Actual malice
And here are some choice rulings against Trump in the E. Jean Carroll rape/defamation case(s):
This news cheers me up. Fat boy has to stop bad mouthing the Judge in cyberspace because at some point the judge will admonish him to STFU, hopefully it will be before fat boy gets into racial slurs. He says the judge hates him, I have news for fatso, so do most people.
“The Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a ‘Case’ that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME. His name is Juan Manuel Marchan,” Trump wrote, misspelling the judge’s last name.
In the post, Trump accused Merchan of having “railroaded” and “strong armed” Weisselberg, who is currently incarcerated in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. Weisselberg entered a guilty plea last year and admitted to receiving more than $1.7 million in untaxed compensation.
Trump also accused Merchan of treating his companies “viciously.” A court spokesperson declined to comment when asked about Trump’s post.
This must be the definition of Freaky Friday, and I couldn’t be happier.
Yes, but punitives are capped by SCOTUS. No firm ratio, but expect any huge amount to get dialed back to something in the neighborhood of 2x actual damages.
It’s the Better Friday before Good Friday!!!
But again there was no way Hulk Hogan was worth 100 Million, and that was what Gawker had to pay.
if there were ever a case against capping punitive damages, this is it. Punitive damages exist as a deterrent, so that companies won’t just calculate actual damages and factor it into their business model. Fox’s damage to American democracy is incalculable. To limit the deterrent effect because Dominion isn’t a big enough company is just insane. Time for some reverse tort reform.
But once trump is buried he will not arise three days later.
I used to love Easter Sunday, BTW, Mass, of course, but a new outfit and a new hat.
He’l be lucky if only 6 pall bearers can lift him up. Probably need ten.
I’m willing to take that risk…lets try it!
Now, I wonder (because it’s the weekend and none of their hosts are probably on tonight) how these nincompoops will try to spin it for their audience to ignore the ruling and continue to defend their statements as truth when the judge has ruled they’re not.
My guess is, the viewers hear nothing about this.
Just wait until SmartMatic get’s their turn in court for punitive damages. They’re bigger than Dominion!
Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages, claiming Fox News, anchor Maria Bartiromo and ex-host Lou Dobbs knowingly lied about the company in an effort to boost ratings and keep Trump supporters from turning to other right-wing networks.
