Dominion’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox — Including Murdochs — Over 2020 Election Can Move Forward, Judge Rules

Topline

Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox Corporation will move forward—though its claims against a Fox subsidiary will not—a state judge in Delaware ruled Tuesday, after the voting machine company alleged Fox executives including Rupert Murdoch and son Lachlan led Fox News’ effort to push baseless election fraud claims involving Dominion machines despite allegedly knowing they were false.

Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch (left) attend the US Open on on September 5, 2018 in New … [+] York City.

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Key Facts

Delaware state Judge Eric M. Davis denied Fox Corporation’s motion to dismiss Dominion’s defamation suit against it, though he did dismiss separate claims against Fox Broadcasting Company and fraud allegations published on Fox.com, saying Dominion’s allegations against it were insufficient.

Dominion sued Fox Corporation and Fox Broadcasting in November 2021, alleging top Fox executives—namely the Murdochs—“exerted direct control over Fox News’ programming decisions” in the aftermath of the 2020 election and thus were responsible for the network’s false fraud claims involving Dominion machines.

Davis ruled Dominion had adequately alleged defamation well enough for the case to move forward, finding there’s a “reasonable inference” that Fox Corporation “participated in the creation and publication of Fox News’ defamatory statements” and helped “cause” the alleged defamation.

The judge also ruled there’s a “reasonable inference” that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch specifically knew the fraud claims about Dominion were false but pushed them anyway—which would be “actual malice” that could constitute defamation—citing reporting suggesting Rupert Murdoch did not believe the fraud claims and pieces in other Murdoch-owned newspapers that condemned President Donald Trump’s fraud allegations.

Davis has previously allowed a separate Dominion lawsuit against Fox News to move forward, but Fox tried to shield Fox Corporation and the Murdochs as part of that lawsuit and refused to turn over documents from them, leading Dominion to file a second lawsuit against the parent company.

Fox Corporation has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Crucial Quote

Dominion’s arguments “support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion,” Davis ruled.

Chief Critic

“Fox is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and we will continue to vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court,” Fox Corporation said in a statement after the lawsuit was first filed. Fox News has argued its claims about Dominion are protected reporting under the First Amendment and are not defamatory.

Big Number

More than $1.6 billion. That’s how much Dominion is seeking from Fox Corporation, according to its initial lawsuit, including for lost profits, “enterprise value,” security costs and expenses incurred during the “disinformation campaign,” along with an unspecified amount in punitive damages.

Key Background

Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox Corporation is one of numerous defamation suits the company has brought in response to the 2020 election, alleging far-right conspiracy theories tying the company’s machines to election fraud have negatively impacted their business and seeking billions of dollars in damages. In addition to Fox Corporation and Fox News, the company has also filed lawsuits against far-right attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani; MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell; far-right news networks One America News and Newsmax and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. Rival voting company Smartmatic, whose machines were similarly involved in fraud claims, has also filed defamation lawsuits against many of the same parties. There is no evidence to substantiate any of the fraud claims involving Smartmatic or Dominion, whose machines are used in 28 states and controls about 30% of the U.S. market for voting machines, according to data cited by ProPublica in 2019.