Summary judgment for Dominion?

[lookin]

I'm no lawyer, but none other than Laurence Tribe thinks Dominion Voting Systems' request for a $1.6 billion summary judgment against Fox News is likely to succeed.

For others who are not legal eagles, a summary judgment is one in which the facts are so compelling that a judge finds no need for a trial and decides the case on the information that has been presented in the brief.  In this case, Tribe thinks that Dominion has provided enough evidence that Fox News deliberately spread lies that Dominion's voting machines were faulty and denied Donald Trump the 2020 election.

“I have never seen a defamation case with such overwhelming proof that the defendant admitted in writing that it was making up fake information in order to increase its viewership and its revenues,” Tribe told the Guardian. “Fox and its producers and performers were lying as part of their business model.”

One such piece of proof was a tweet put out a day after the election by Fox reporter Jaqui Heinrich who “correctly factchecked [a Trump] tweet, pointing out that top election infrastructure officials said that there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”  After the tweet, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity went ballistic.  They asked to get Heinrich fired because the truth was hurting their ability to broadcast misinformation and that was interfering with their ratings, and with Fox News' stock price.  She took down her tweet the following day.

But all the tweets and compromising emails still exist and are included in Dominion's brief.

Fox News lawyers say the falsehoods knowingly spread by their anchors are protected by the First Amendment.  But others disagree.

“You may have a first amendment right to report on what the president said but you have no right to validate a statement that you know to be false,” said Steven Shapiro, former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union and counsel or co-counsel on more than 200 supreme court briefs.

It's possible this landmark case could be decided quickly.  And it's not the only lawsuit Dominion has filed.  Billion-dollar cases against Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell are still active.

Personally, it would please me greatly if Dominion prevailed in all its cases and actually received multi-billion-dollar judgments.  For too many years, we've been inundated with known lies masquerading as truth and there have been few if any consequences.

Here's hoping that's about to change. 🤞

[njf]

I certainly hope that Tribe is right. A summary judgment for Dominion will deter future misbehaviors of Murdoch’s propaganda machines.

[Mavica]

Dominion will prevail, but not to the tune of $1 billion +.  Fox will continue its anti-American focus no matter how much the judgment in favor of Dominion is.

[forky123]

Going to be interesting with the Smartmatic suit also moving forwards. Let’s hope Fox gets all that it deserves with it’s continual misrepresentations. 
 

 

[caeron]

There is no escaping a lot of pain for Fox on this. The evidence is too damning. They will probably be able to negotiate a cheaper settlement, but cheaper won't be cheap.

I am looking forward to their painful comeuppance. Lying sacks of shit.

[TotallyOz]

Even if the full amount is awarded, it will not sway Fox to change it ways. They make many more billions off of the stupid and naive. The cost of this will not hurt them at all.

[caeron]

 

All of Fox made $1.2B profit last year. I'm pretty sure it will hurt. They'll still suck up to their crazy audience, but they'll be a bit more careful about the gratuitous lying I think.

[lookin]

7 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

Even if the full amount is awarded, it will not sway Fox to change it ways. They make many more billions off of the stupid and naive. The cost of this will not hurt them at all.

In the grand scheme, you're probably right.  Still, no manager likes to make a billion-dollar mistake.

In March, 2020, their stock lost a third of its value - $4 billion in market value.  Perhaps that's what Tucker Carlson was bitching about in that article.  It's mostly recovered now.

If they do end up paying a billion on this one case, Fox should, at the very least, tighten the chain on their 'anchors' before they pull the company underwater again.

 

[TotallyOz]

I am sure the Murdoch's care about money but I believe they would happy give it up for their party. They are fanatics.

[lookin]

Apparently, Rupert Murdoch was unusually forthcoming in his depositions for the Dominion lawsuit.  He admitted he knew that his 'commentators' were peddling false information about the 2020 election.  He also said he could have kept Rudy Guiliani and Sydney Powell and their damaging views on Dominion off the network, but that he did not.

It also turns out that Paul Ryan, who sits on Fox's board of directors, implored Murdoch to "move on " and "stop spouting election lies".  This adds to Murdoch's problems, as it opens the door to shareholder lawsuits.

Some also wonder if Murdoch's admissions will drive viewers away from the network.  Maybe so, but I wonder if their viewers actually look to Fox for factual information or for 'alternative facts' to support incorrect beliefs they already hold.

Somethin' tells me Murdoch's problems are about to get bigger and hopefully make the cost of spreading lies so expensive that few, if any, can afford it.

[Suckrates]

8 hours ago, lookin said:

Apparently, Rupert Murdoch was unusually forthcoming in his depositions for the Dominion lawsuit.  He admitted he knew that his 'commentators' were peddling false information about the 2020 election.  He also said he could have kept Rudy Guiliani and Sydney Powell and their damaging views on Dominion off the network, but that he did not.

It also turns out that Paul Ryan, who sits on Fox's board of directors, implored Murdoch to "move on " and "stop spouting election lies".  This adds to Murdoch's problems, as it opens the door to shareholder lawsuits.

Some also wonder if Murdoch's admissions will drive viewers away from the network.  Maybe so, but I wonder if their viewers actually look to Fox for factual information or for 'alternative facts' to support incorrect beliefs they already hold.

Somethin' tells me Murdoch's problems are about to get bigger and hopefully make the cost of spreading lies so expensive that few, if any, can afford it.

 

If the punishment is to fit the crime, FOX FAKE NEWS should be shut down and put out of its, and OUR misery......Their bold and intentional LYING to the American people for THEIR financial gain is not Free Speech when the results are an Insurrection...   If there are any rightwing Devotees here,  I apologize if I have assaulted your sensibilities, but your Wizard of OZ has got to Go !.....   

[unicorn]

I don't think that people who watch Fox news could care less about the truth. 

[Pete1111]

On 2/28/2023 at 10:30 PM, lookin said:

Apparently, Rupert Murdoch was unusually forthcoming in his depositions for the Dominion lawsuit.  He admitted he knew that his 'commentators' were peddling false information about the 2020 election.  He also said he could have kept Rudy Guiliani and Sydney Powell and their damaging views on Dominion off the network, but that he did not.

It also turns out that Paul Ryan, who sits on Fox's board of directors, implored Murdoch to "move on " and "stop spouting election lies".  This adds to Murdoch's problems, as it opens the door to shareholder lawsuits.

Some also wonder if Murdoch's admissions will drive viewers away from the network.  Maybe so, but I wonder if their viewers actually look to Fox for factual information or for 'alternative facts' to support incorrect beliefs they already hold.

Somethin' tells me Murdoch's problems are about to get bigger and hopefully make the cost of spreading lies so expensive that few, if any, can afford it.

Does seem like his problems aren't nearly over.  Will Murdoch ultimately fire someone?

Bartiromo?  Carlson?

For now, the fake news chickens have come home to roost.  

 

[Suckrates]

10 hours ago, Pete1111 said:

Does seem like his problems aren't nearly over.  Will Murdoch ultimately fire someone?

Bartiromo?  Carlson?

For now, the fake news chickens have come home to roost.  

 

As long as Fox maintains the "audience" it has and the "green" keeps rolling in,  NOTHING will happen here except Fox will incur huge financial damages. Their audience loves to be lied to and validated by Carlson and the other "sly foxes" who KNOW the truth but will Never tell it....  It you watch closely, Tucker  always has a little smirk on his face when he is spewing out his "knowing Lies".....He knows he is getting over on them and that they are clueless fools.

[JKane]

 

 

 

[Suckrates]

6 hours ago, JKane said:

 

 

 

Of course Fox viewers will NEVER believe the truth about the network, because if they did, it would make them out to be bigger Yahoos and fools than they really are.... They would rather be Fox conduits than sane human beings.  

[JKane]

 

 

 

[Marc in Calif]

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)
Complicating Dominion Voting Systems’ effort to make Tucker Carlson testify when its case against Fox News goes to trial, the T.V. host has produced a doctor’s note claiming that he would be unable to raise his right hand in court.

According to the note, signed by his New York orthopedist, Carlson sustained “a severe injury to the rotator cuff when he was a Little League pitcher and, as a result, has been unable to raise his right hand for the past forty-five years.”

“Any attempt to raise said hand would result in excruciating, unbearable pain,” the note continued.

The doctor’s note failed to convince Dominion, however, which responded by releasing dozens of photos showing Carlson raising his right hand, including during a mass salute at a Trump rally.

The company also called into question the credibility of Carlson’s orthopedist, Dr. George Santos.

[Suckrates]

31 minutes ago, Marc in Calif said:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)
Complicating Dominion Voting Systems’ effort to make Tucker Carlson testify when its case against Fox News goes to trial, the T.V. host has produced a doctor’s note claiming that he would be unable to raise his right hand in court.

According to the note, signed by his New York orthopedist, Carlson sustained “a severe injury to the rotator cuff when he was a Little League pitcher and, as a result, has been unable to raise his right hand for the past forty-five years.”

“Any attempt to raise said hand would result in excruciating, unbearable pain,” the note continued.

The doctor’s note failed to convince Dominion, however, which responded by releasing dozens of photos showing Carlson raising his right hand, including during a mass salute at a Trump rally.

The company also called into question the credibility of Carlson’s orthopedist, Dr. George Santos.

LOL, add to that Rupperts request not to appear and testify because for him "it would be terribly INCONVENIENT"..... Golly Gee, the problems RICH people have.   But there was absolutely NO inconvenience in Fox LYING to its viewers.....  Its all just a matter of perception and PRIORITY !