The settlement agreement between Fox and Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday aims to send a message to those who promote fake election claims and conspiracy theories in the aftermath of the 202 presidential election.
Although its high-profile defamation lawsuit secured $787.5 million against Fox, the Colorado-based company is far from finished seeking financial damages.
Based on court filings, six more defamation lawsuits are pending: right-wing networks Newsmax and One America News Network (OANN) and Trump supporters Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell, and Patrick Byrne.
I think it’s a huge step forward in democracy if our system can send a signal that if media companies lie — whoever they are or whatever channel they’re on — and they knowingly do so, they’ll be willing to pay you a bill,” said John Poulos, CEO of Voting Technology. For “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, it’s a pretty high price.
Dominion Voting Systems vote counting machines have been called into question by former President Donald Trump and his allies after losing the 2020 election.
remaining dominance issues
Newsmax: Targeted by former President Donald Trump and his allies, Dominion Voting Systems of Colorado filed a complaint against Newsmax in Delaware court in August 2021, finding that the news channel had ‘created an entire brand of defamation’ of the company.
EN: U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols has allowed Dominion’s lawsuit against One America News Network (OANN) to move forward and is expected to go to trial in 2024. The voting technology company claims that the far-right network promoted fraud allegations despite knowing they were false, and ” Help create and grow an alternate reality where… Dominion has engaged in a massive scam.”
Rudy Giuliani: A federal judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Trump’s official personal attorney after a voting machine company filed it in January 2021, alleging he was “establishing (d) himself by falsely claiming that Dominion fixed the election.” Giuliani and others have alleged a widespread Democratic election conspiracy involving multiple states and suspected voting machines.
Sidney Powell: The conservative and controversial lawyer remains a staunch supporter of Trump, despite being expelled from his legal team after making untrue statements about the voting process and promising to ‘blow up’ Georgia with a biblical claim. Dominion is seeking $1.3 billion in damages for publishing false allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.
Mike Lindell: Denver-based Dominion has separately sued Lindell and MyPillow for libel in federal court, alleging that the CEO “sells the lie” about the company’s voting machines “because the lie sells pillows.”
Patrick Byrne: Overstock CEO is being sued for ‘false evidence manufactured and promoted to convince the world the 2020 election was stolen’ using Dominion voting machines. A US district judge ruled that “a reasonable jury could find that Byrne acted with genuine malice” in publishing provably false assertions about the Dominion.
Trump’s former personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is being sued for spreading falsehoods about rigging the 2020 election.
NewsMaxTV, owned by Christopher Ruddy, has been sued by Dominion for promoting bogus conspiracy theories about voter fraud during the 2020 election.
One America News Network (OANN) is also being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for $1.7 billion for defamation
The voting technology company is also suing Sydney Powell, a former member of President Donald Trump’s legal team, for publishing false allegations that the company helped steal the US presidential election away from Trump.
MyPillow Mike Lindell was also sued by Dominion for defamation of their voting machines
Patrick M. Byrne, Chairman and CEO of Overstock.com, also made untrue allegations of election fraud.
What is the schedule?
The Dominion v. Powell, Giuliani, and Lindell cases do not expect until mid-2024, as the scheduling order has set a hearing in February 2024 to discuss possible trial dates. No further cases against Byrne and On are expected to be filed until next year based on their current schedules.
What are the risks?
The voting technology company is seeking $1.6 billion — each — from three of the plaintiffs: Newsmax, OANN, and Byrne. The lawsuits against Powell, Giuliani, and Lindell are slightly lower: $1.3 billion in damages.
main background
Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox for $1.6 billion, alleging that the news outlet aired allegations that the company’s voting machines were rigged against Trump in 2020 while knowing the accusations were untrue.
Fox confirmed that he was reporting news charges leveled by supporters of the Republican president. The network said it was legally backed by defamation standards.
Referring to other lawsuits against Trump allies that the company is still filing, Poulos said, “We’re going to go after them all.”
why does it matter?
In a 1964 case involving the New York Times, the US Supreme Court limited the ability of public figures to bring suits for defamation.
The court ruled that plaintiffs needed to prove that news outlets published or broadcast false material with “genuine malice” – knowing that the material was false or acting with “reckless disregard” of whether it was true or not.
This provided news organizations with strong protection against defamation judgments.
However, the legal standard that spans nearly six decades has come under attack by some conservatives in recent years, including Trump and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who have argued to make it easier to win a libel case.
