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Dominion Voting Systems has won a partial (but big) ruling in your favor in his $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and Fox (NASDAQ: FOX) (NASDAQ:FOXA), as trial judge granted Dominion summary judgment over its false statement claims and sent the rest to proceed to a trial likely to include prominent witnesses.
That included finding as a matter of law that Fox’s statements about Dominion were false, while denying Fox’s attempt to dismiss the case.
“The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that it is crystal CLEAR that none of the Dominion-related statements about the 2020 election are true,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said in his ruling. “Therefore, the Court will enter summary judgment in favor of Dominion on the element of falsehood.”
That establishes defamation per se, suggesting that Fox could be liable without Dominion having to prove damages.
And it moves the issue of whether Fox acted with actual malice to be decided by a jury, which could find that Fox is liable for a verdict in excess of $1B.
Dominion alleged that Fox News repeatedly made false claims that the company had helped rig the 2020 election.
