Dem
51
GOP
49
At the last moment, after jury selection had apparently commenced, lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) and for News Corp (which owns Fox) reached a settlement agreement, with DVS getting a check for $787.5 million. This may well be the largest defamation settlement of all time, and if it's not #1, it's certainly way up there. There is no way to be certain, because many large defamation settlements (unlike this one) are sealed.
Yesterday, we did not imagine the two sides would be able to find a middle ground satisfactory to both. However, we also were not highly motivated by the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars hung in the balance. Probably the best way to think about this is to run down what each side got out of the agreement. Starting with Fox:
In short, Fox managed to limit their financial exposure to an amount that is a bitter pill to swallow, but still within the company's means. They also put themselves in a position to maintain the fiction, for their viewers, that this story doesn't exist. For the second day in a row, we give you the front page of the Fox website:
Fox also issued a statement that read, in part:
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. 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.
As you can see, Fox is not actually admitting to having lied, it's only admitting that the court said the network lied. That sort of weaselly verbiage is what one expects from lawyers, though this approach is also key to "FOX's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards." See, for example, the lead headline in that screen capture that subtly implies that Joe Biden is misrepresenting his true income.
Meanwhile, here are the things DVS got:
In other words, Dominion's victory isn't going to reach the ears of the hardcore Fox fanatics, but those folks are lost to DVS anyhow. Anyone else who follows the news is going to walk away understanding that Fox lied and lied and lied some more, got caught, and had to pay up. Further, even if the reputation of DVS is permanently wrecked, well, the company has a market value of about $50 million, and annual revenues of about $17 million. So, even if DVS makes zero sales for the next 20 years, it still comes out ahead, financially. Probably, they should just take the cash and get out of the voting machine business. Or, at least, take the cash and rebrand.
Undoubtedly, many people will be disappointed that Fox isn't going to take a beating in court over the next few weeks. That may be so, but the network and its parent corporation aren't out of the woods yet. There's still the suit from Smartmatic, which asks for more money ($2.7 billion plus punitive damages), and which involves claims that were arguably even more outlandish than the ones made against DVS. Further, at least one News Corp shareholder has already sued, and at least a dozen law firms are "chomping at the bit" to get in on that action, given that reckless management is going to cost shareholders a lot of money.
Meanwhile, although DVS has its money, it may very well still get its day in court. Recall that it also has lawsuits pending against smaller fish, like Mike Lindell. We don't know how many MyPillows he has sold, but we're confident it hasn't been enough to leave him with $700 million in the bank. So, DVS is in a position to take the fat payout from the deep-pocketed foe, and then use a court case against a shallower-pocketed foe to shred the whole narrative put forth by Donald Trump and his allies. (Z)