A Delaware judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News said in a pretrial hearing Tuesday that he was still weighing whether to issue a summary judgment for either side in the case. (NYT)
Both sides made presentations during a hearing in Wilmington before Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, asking him to rule in their favor on various legal questions rather than proceeding to a full trial scheduled to start April 17. (Reuters)
On Tuesday, Dominion argued that material from its discovery showed that there were “deliberate” decisions by those responsible for the broadcasts—all the way up the chain of command—to let the false claims be out there. It was “to release the Kraken,” Dominion attorney Rodney Smolla said, echoing one-time Trump attorney Sidney Powell’s unfulfilled promise of proof that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump. (CBS News)
The hearing reviewed much of the court documents and deposition testimony connected to the case, in which Fox News anchors, producers and executives—including boss Rupert Murdoch—are cited for allowing the false claims to air while expressing their own skepticism and downplaying the reporting by some of the network’s journalists and hosts who disputed the allegations. (LA Times / Company Town)
The judge seemed particularly skeptical of Fox’s claims that its hosts were merely voicing opinions—not asserting false facts—when they suggested to viewers that Dominion may have manufactured fraudulent votes for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. (WaPo)