WILMINGTON, Del. – Fox News said in a court filing on Sunday that Dominion Voting Systems lost “more than half a billion dollars” to its original claim for damages just as the trial was to begin.
The filing — a request to the court for clarification of what evidence the network can present to the jury regarding the damages issue — said Dominion told Fox it was “walking away from damages for loss of profit and would only pursue damages for “loss of business value”. .”
“FOX has made it clear that Dominion’s damages are grossly inflated, which Dominion finally admitted in the 11th hour,” a Fox spokesperson said in a statement Monday.
Dominion disputed this, saying it had not reduced its claim. The company sued in 2021, arguing that Fox News defamed the company by spreading baseless conspiracies about its voting machines ‘rigging’ the 2020 election against Donald Trump and seeking $1.6 billion damages.
“The claim for damages remains. As Fox well knows, our damages exceed $1.6 billion,” a Dominion spokesperson said Monday.
Fox’s filing included an email from Dominion attorney Brian Farnan stating that Dominion’s legal team “will not be bringing its claim for damages for loss of profits to the jury, given that it is doing duplication with damages for loss of business value”.
In an earlier Dominion lawsuit aired by Fox, Dominion pegged lost profits at around $600 million and lost business value at $1 billion. Dominion is also seeking attorneys’ fees, security costs and an unspecified amount of punitive damages to be determined at trial.
The Fox dossier came in the middle an unexpected delay in the start of the trial.
Sunday night, just over 12 hours before potential jurors are due, Judge Eric Davis said he was moving the start of the trial to Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.
“It’s not a press conference, I’m not doing that… what I’m telling you is that I made the decision to postpone the start of the trial until tomorrow,” he said. said from the bench on Monday morning.
The judge did not give a reason for the delay, but said it was common for such proceedings.
For months, Dominion and Fox News held their ground against a settlement, but the delay fueled speculation that more serious talks could be underway.
Dominion declined to say whether settlement talks are underway. Fox News did not respond to requests for comment on the delay.
The delay follows a bruising week for Fox News.
During the pre-trial conference hearings, Davis disciplined the company and its attorneys for withholding evidence, chastised them for not being forthright with him, and said he was considering appointing a special master to investigate. possible legal misconduct by lawyers. He said he would allow Dominion to take additional depositions with Fox News executive chairman Rupert Murdoch at Fox’s expense.
Davis also ruled that Fox attorneys could not use media value as a legal defense, limiting possible trial strategies.
Fox News is also facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from polling company Smartmatic in a New York court. Last week they settled a small lawsuit brought by a Venezuelan businessman who has been identified as a key player in the fake stolen election claims.