A few days ago Dominion said they wouldn’t settle, $1.6 billion due when they win.
I agree with you on a lot of things, Castor. This isn’t one of them. Secret balloting is, I believe, the key to true democracy, eliminating intimidation and harassment. That’s the “free” part of “free and fair.” Secrecy might hamper the “fair” part, but transparency would certainly kill the “free” part.
The First Amendment standard for defamation against a public figure – which Dominion certainly qualifies as – is that you have to prove the defendant made the defamatory statement with (1) actual knowledge it was false, or (2) reckless indifference to the truth or falsity of the statement. Dominion is going to have abundant proof of item (2) just because the stuff they were inviting people on to say is so transparently insane and plainly not true. And I would bet that discovery is going to turn up some proof of item (1) as well, because there is basically no way that producers and other staffers, maybe even the hosts themselves, were not making statements in writing that disclosed their actual knowledge that Sidney Powell was spouting some real bullshit.
Fox could argue that the excessive drool on the lips of Hannity, Carlson, Bartiromo, etc., should have made it clear it was all poppycock. That’s basically what the Kraken woman is arguing - just the fact that she SAID it should make it clear.
My impression is that the law firms coming on aren’t rookies. They smell blood and profit, or they wouldn’t be grabbing on.
Just capitalists? Make a buck serving up lies for Ryan or move on to the next money pot at Smartmatics. Working as a flack for Ryan is a black mark forever as far as I’m concerned. Good luck on the law suit by Smartmatics but fuck this Steel guy.
And you know he’s a good attorney because he looks like he hasn’t slept in years haha
If Fox suffers any sanctions they’ll be monetary. The rich misbehave or commit crimes all the time and merely write a check to make it go away. This will be no different. They’ll deal with the loss and walk on, with not so much as a hiccup in their gait.
That’s not an actual defense to a defamation claim. The case you are referring to was decided in favor of Tucker/Fox on the basis that the allegedly defamatory statements were non-actionable because they were opinions, not statements of fact. In the course of making that ruling, the court went out of its way to consider the context of the statements, i.e., that they were made during a political opinion show. Fox did not get off because nobody would believe Tucker’s bulshit, but instead because Tucker’s bullshit was not a false statement of objective fact.
Well, their very existence as a voting machine company is at stake here and they want to continue in that business. If they let this kind of calculated defamation stand unchallenged, they can kiss their business goodbye.
So, to the courts they go. Lots of people want to see the reckless and arrogant Reich-Wing Echo Chamber get it’s comeuppance too, but to fight these fights Dominion needs one thing above all: MONEY.
By hiring legal representation on contingency, they get that ability to fight the vast array of lawyers that will oppose them. The Reich-Wing-Echo-Chamber has deep, deep pockets and is supported by obscenely wealthy backers who are perfectly willing to spend hundreds of millions to “control the message” in their favor.
This will be the biggest legal battle since the Tobacco lawsuits of the late 90’s, deciding whether or not “News” organizations can broadcast known lies with impunity.
Dominion has said that it will not settle—the Fox trial will go on as scheduled.
What if there were a compromise in that the results are protected, but any individual could request their specific data? Hell, with the folks I know, not really a secret which way I lean, so maybe I’m coming from it from a different perspective.
But always bothered me a bit that I can never actually verify that my personal ballot was counted in the way I intended.
It’s a slam dunk.
States “won” those suits, yet cigarettes are still made, sold, and consumed by millions. As will Fox’s news when this is all over. And both products still just as noxious and dangerous as before (and after) court proceedings came to a conclusion.
I’m in favor of a paper trail for every vote and was really glad when Dallas Co. switched to evoting machines that produce a paper ballot.
Smoking rates dropped sharply because tobacco companies can no longer lie about the dangers of smoking. Dominion isn’t trying to put Fox out of business entirely.
Well… you know… the amounts in law suits, when they’re filed, particularly, when they’re filed with great public fan-fare, is almost purely performative. And, there’s no rule, in general, against claiming publicly that you won’t settle for less, but Dominion has a case, and they can prove damages, and Powell’s response was probably… ill-advised, shall we say, so, they’re trying to control the narrative… which is part of the point of the law suits; they are defending their reputation.