Fox News agreed to a $787.5 million settlement in the defamation lawsuit brought on by Dominion Voting Systems in a ninth-hour decision Tuesday just as the trial was set to begin.
“The parties have resolved their case,” Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said.
“Your presence here… was extremely important. And without you, the parties would not have been able to resolve their situation,” the judge said to jurors just before dismissing them.
The settlement ends a months-long legal battle between the parties. The voting machine accused the network of damaging its reputation by helping peddle conspiracy theories about its equipment. In the suit filed in 2021, Dominion claimed Fox broadcasted baseless claims about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, that it paid kickbacks to politicians and that its machines “rigged” the 2020 presidential election by flipping millions of votes for Trump to Biden, NBC News reports. The company initially sought $1.6 billion in damages.
“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems,” Fox News said in a statement. “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. 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.”
