Fox News settles with Dominion Voting Systems over 2020 election fraud allegations

Fox News settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million on Tuesday, according to NBC News.

The settlement stems from a $1.6 billion defamation case against the cable news network for following allegations made in Trump circles that the voting machine manufacturer was part of a conspiracy to manufacture votes for then candidate Joe Biden.

The resolution between the two parties came on the first day of trial in the civil case in a Wilmington, Delaware court.

“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” Fox said in a statement.

“This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues," the network's statement reads.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis dismissed the jury at 4 p.m., saying “[t]he case has been resolved and it’s been resolved because of you," according to the Britain based Independent newspaper.

In its original complaint against Fox News, Dominion argued the news network defamed the company by knowingly giving specific guests a national platform to amplify false allegations that Dominion's voting machines were rigged to help give then Democratic presidential candidate an advantage in the 2020 election.

Fox tried to argue it was protected by the First Amendment and that even the allegations against the voting machine manufacturer had newsworthy value.

Judge Eric Davis disagreed however, and allowed the case to proceed to trial in late March after determining that Dominion established the first element of its claim, namely that the narrative Fox was amplifying about the voting machine manufacturer was false.

“The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear than none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” Davis opined at the time. 

Davis ruled in favor on Fox News on other issues, however.

In an attempt to color Fox News as biased, Dominion Voting Systems tried to admit evidence about Fox News’s coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. David ruled against that, saying any such reports were unrelated to the case at hand and would therefore risk prejudicing the defendant and confusing the jury.

Under the rules of evidence in most jurisdictions, evidence that may confuse or prejudice a party is deemed inadmissible.