Dominion settlements

 

Meanwhile in Fox News troubles

Recall that Fox agreed to settle with Dominion voting machines company to the tune of $787.5 million in that defamation suit April last year to avoid a possible jury verdict awarding them the $1.6 billion Dominion was asking for.  

Teasing out Tucker's firing

A text message sent by Tucker Carlson that set off a panic at the highest levels of Fox on the eve of its billion-dollar defamation trial showed its most popular host sharing his private, inflammatory views about violence and race.

The discovery of the message contributed to a chain of events that ultimately led to Mr. Carlson’s firing.

[...]

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington. A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living shit out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it. Then somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be. The Antifa creep is a human being. Much as I despise what he says and does, much as I’m sure I’d hate him personally if I knew him, I shouldn’t gloat over his suffering. I should be bothered by it. I should remember that somewhere somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed. If I don’t care about those things, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?

[...]

The text alarmed the Fox board, which saw the message a day before Fox was set to defend itself against Dominion Voting Systems before a jury.

[...]

The day after the discovery, the board told Fox executives it was bringing in an outside law firm to conduct an investigation into Mr. Carlson’s conduct.

  NYT

"How white men fight" - honorably, evidently, in Tucker's mind. 

Anyway, I don't buy that this particular message weighed more than others in his firing. After all, at least in this one, Tucker seems to be coming to a reasoned conclusion about his unbidden feelings of hatred.  And, it's not like they didn't know what he said openly on his show.

A recurring theme of his show during the six years that it ran in prime time on Fox News was the displacement of white Americans by people of color. Mr. Carlson often framed topics in the news as part of a larger struggle between “us” and “them,” with immigrants and other marginalized groups steadily and surely taking from whites what had long been theirs: political and cultural power in the United States.

He attacked Black social justice activists and portrayed immigrants from Central America as a blight on the nation. He said in 2018 that immigrants make the country “dirtier.”

In the aftermath of a mass shooting in El Paso at the hands of a gunman who cited white supremacist beliefs in his manifesto, Mr. Carlson declared on his show that white supremacy was “not a real problem,” likening it to a conspiracy theory.

[...]

In other messages he had referred to women — including a senior Fox executive — in crude and misogynistic terms. The message about the fight also played a role in the company’s decision to settle with Dominion for $787.5 million, the highest known payout in a defamation case.

No doubt. It added to the pile of shit that was about to come out in trial. And Tucker would have had to go on the stand. And lie, I suspect.

The text message added to a growing number of internal issues involving Mr. Carlson that led the company’s leadership to conclude he was more of a problem than an asset and had to go, according to several people with knowledge of the decision.

I suspect they had been weighing the balance for a while.

The contents of the text were disclosed in interviews with several people close to the defamation lawsuit against Fox. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a message that is protected by a court order. In public filings, it remains hidden behind a block of black text.

[...]

Many of the messages shared in the case, including those among Fox executives and hosts, were released publicly. But others, like the one between Mr. Carlson and one of his producers in the hours after Jan. 6, 2021, remain redacted.

The worst will eventually leak, I expect.

The text message came to the attention of Fox’s board of directors and even some senior executives only last month, on the Sunday before the trial was set to begin.

[...]

The next day, the board told Fox’s leadership about its plan to have the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz investigate Mr. Carlson.

And I expect that is what caused Fox executives to settle the case abruptly.

Fox’s lawyers had produced the text as part of the discovery process and were involved in the redactions. Mr. Carlson had even been asked about it during a deposition, according to several people who have read the unredacted transcripts of his deposition.

It was not guaranteed that the text would have been revealed in open court. Dominion’s lawyers had still not decided whether they would introduce the text in front of the jury. [...] The two sides disagreed on whether the Dominion lawyers could have presented such a redacted message at trial if they had decided to do so, a decision that would have ultimately fallen to the judge.

As I was saying, it wasn't the straw the broke the camel's back. They knew about it for some time.

How Fox’s executives and board handled the case in the months before the trial was scheduled to begin is expected to be at issue in shareholder lawsuits filed against the company in Delaware.

I guess Fox will want to settle that one for sure. 

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Dominion v Fox ends

And, just like that, they settled, depriving us all of well earned schadenfreude.

I hope one of the conditions of the settlement is that Carlson, et al., have to eat crow on air.

I'm assuming the settlement came because of the judge's lunch time order creating a special master to investigate whether Fox had complied with discovery.  So there must be something out there Fox didn't want seen.  And I wish Dominion had held out for more.  Well, I really wish they had refused to settle at all.  

Yeah, I bet.

And Smartmatic, no matter what they say, can be expected to settle as well.

I wonder if the investor/shareholder suit (Schwarz v Murdoch) will settle.

I assume the most damaging documents are still hidden.  Thus, the settlement after the judge ordered a special master on discovery.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 04:35 pm: Hmmmmmm...

UPDATE 09:59 pm:

UPDATE 04/21/2023:

Dominion v Fox begins

After a one day delay, the trial has begun today.  I haven't seen the reason for the delay reported, but I have heard that the judge may have been giving the parties one last chance to settle.  As if.

Like THAT's going to happen.  They MIGHT be able to follow the instruction not to talk to anyone about the case, but they're never going to stay off the internet.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 02:51 pm:

That invoices note is to the special master.  Fox is not doing itself any favors.  

And that seems to be all for the day.  Seems like the judge is getting more disgusted with Fox lawyers by the day.

UPDATE 03:24 pm:  They settled.  Depriving us all of well earned schadenfreude.

He STILL doesn't know how to spell "stolen"

Perhaps he should focus on his own "big trouble" lawsuits.  And why is he yelling this?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Let's look in on the Fox case

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis said Fox lawyers previously had "represented to him more than once" that Murdoch was not an officer for the subsidiary cable network. Such information "could have" led him to make different rulings earlier on in the case, he said.

"I'm not very happy right now," Davis said, in his often-understated manner.

[...]

In a statement released Tuesday evening, a spokesperson for the network said "Rupert Murdoch has been listed as executive chairman of FOX News in our SEC filings since 2019 and this filing was referenced by Dominion's own attorney during his deposition."

A Fox proxy statement filed in 2020 does indeed list Murdoch as serving as the "executive chairman of Fox News Network, LLC."

  NPR

So...oopsie judge.

However...

Fox attorneys had sought to keep any potential liability against the cable network separate from that against the parent company. They also resisted requests from Dominion during the early stages of the lawsuit for information about the Murdoch family because, as Fox argued, "they were only affiliated with Fox Corporation," Dominion attorney Justin Nelson said on Tuesday.

As a result, Dominion's attorneys are "missing a whole bunch of Rupert Murdoch documents that we otherwise would be entitled to," Nelson claimed.

[...]

In response, one Fox attorney called Murdoch's position with the network "honorific," and said the role had been disclosed during a previous deposition. But Davis was not pacified. He said an officer of a company cannot "escape responsibility" by saying they didn't have any tasks.

[...]

Davis warned attorneys to "stay away from the word 'newsworthy'" in opening statements, because he had previously ruled it is not a legal defense against defamation. Still, he said, he would allow Fox hosts testifying during trial to state whether they personally believed false claims against Dominion were newsworthy.

That prompted the first instance of pushback from attorneys for Dominion on Tuesday, who argued that a jury would be prejudiced by such testimony from a Fox host. Davis shot back, arguing there is a distinction between what a Fox host believed to be newsworthy, and what Fox lawyers argued could absolve the company from defamation.

[...]

In a response that neared a roleplay, Davis suggested various questions that Dominion attorneys could ask during a cross-examination, including why Fox hosts who believed election lies to be newsworthy didn't also air interviews with then-President elect Joe Biden.

"I could have a lot of fun with this case," Davis said.

I think I see an appeal coming on.

On the other hand...

Dominion attorneys also pushed back against a previous decision from the court that barred them from introducing information at trial about the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, or about details of threats made against Dominion employees.

Davis said the actions made by individuals with no relationship to Fox – or what he called "third parties' looniness" – could unfairly prejudice the jury against Fox. While jurors could hear about the mere existence of threats, Dominion attorneys could not discuss the fine details of them, the judge said.

What?

Davis stressed that he must strike a "balance" between giving attorneys leeway and ensuring jurors would rule only on the claims in the case — and not the controversial issues that linger just beyond it.

[...]

Nelson argued Dominion should be allowed to question Fox employees about the Capitol riots as they are relevant to evidentiary issues, particularly why Fox chose to "pivot" its support away from Trump following the event.

Davis in response again suggested a question that Dominion could ask in its place. He said Dominion could inquire why Fox executives chose to pull back support from Trump. If their answer brought up Jan. 6, Dominion could pursue the topic, the judge said.

This all sounds like Dominion might be more inclined to settle than was earlier thought, but what do I know?

UPDATE 04/12/2023:

UPDATE 04/13/2023:

[T]he Delaware judge overseeing the case declared he would sanction Fox News and launch an investigation into Fox's apparent repeated failures to disclose information, including about the role of Fox founder Rupert Murdoch.

The trial, one of the most significant defamation cases in many years, is set to begin on Monday.

[...]

"I need people to tell me the truth," Davis said as he dressed down the network's attorneys. "And, by the way, omission is a lie."

Last week, Davis ruled that Dominion had already proved the contested statements' falsity and that the jury won't have to weigh their validity; instead, the judge will instruct them that the statements are false and defamatory.

[...]

Moving forward, Davis announced he would appoint a so-called "special master" to investigate Fox's apparent failure to share all information. Davis also allowed Dominion to re-depose some witnesses from Fox, including [Fox host Maria] Bartiromo, at Fox's expense.

  NPR

And here's a little tidbit that I found interesting...

Dominion attorney Davida Brook also cited a story broken by NPR earlier this week: NPR disclosed that Fox's chief political anchor, Bret Baier, had unsuccessfully lobbied from late November 2020 to January 2021 to host an hour-long special debunking election fraud myths for its viewers. According to five sources, Baier never received an anchor. (A Fox executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, say it was a "nascent" idea that became irrelevant after the January 6th, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. All attention turned to the Biden transition, the executive said.)

Irrelevant. Fox viewers are still believers in the Big Lie. And acting on it.

UPDATE 04/16/2023:

But I'm guessing that wasn't presented on the Fox channel.

Don't forget

Fox is also being sued by the Smartmatic voting machine company.

Gonna be lit

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said at a hearing that if Dominion subpoenas the Murdochs to testify in-person, he would not quash those subpoenas, and the Murdochs would need to show up to the courthouse.

[...]

He added that that “it would be my discretion that they come” to testify in-person at the trial, which is scheduled to begin later this month in Wilmington, Delaware.

“Both parties have made these witnesses very relevant,” Davis added.

[...]

The judge signaled at previous hearings that he was skeptical of Fox’s claims that their testimony wasn’t necessary. The judge’s comments Wednesday further raise the stakes for Fox in the closely watched case, which is set to go to trial this month, barring a last-minute settlement.

  CNN

Please don't settle, Dominion.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

2023: the year of "political" trials