During a court hearing on Wednesday, the judge presiding over the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems sanctioned Fox News. This decision was made after Fox News withheld records until the trial's eve, providing Dominion with a new opportunity to gather evidence. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis also stated that he would likely appoint an outside investigator to look into Fox's late disclosure of the evidence and take any necessary steps to address the situation, which he found to be concerning. It is currently uncertain whether Dominion will request new depositions.
According to a statement by Fox News, they provided Dominion with the additional information as soon as they became aware of it. The evidence in question pertains to recordings made by a former Fox employee of Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, stating before pre-taped Fox appearances that he had no evidence to support the false claims of election rigging by Dominion in the 2020 election that form the basis of the lawsuit.
As part of the sanctions against Fox, Judge Davis ruled that if Dominion needs to conduct additional depositions or redo any that have already been done, Fox will have to ensure that the person is available and will be responsible for the cost, according to a report in the New York Times.
During a pretrial conference on Tuesday, Judge Davis decided to take action based on information provided in a new filing from Abby Grossberg, a former Fox News producer involved in a separate lawsuit against the network. Grossberg claimed in her filing that she has recordings of former Trump lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani, admitting that they had no evidence to support their claims of election fraud. These recordings were allegedly widely circulated and discussed within Fox News.
Judge Davis also stated during the pretrial conference that Fox News had a credibility issue after the network disclosed that Rupert Murdoch was an officer of the company for the first time in almost two years of litigation. As a Fox News officer, Murdoch would have likely been subject to more thorough discovery by Dominion.
According to Bloomberg, Murdoch is expected to be called to testify as early as Monday. Fox has defended its coverage of the election fraud allegations, stating that it was newsworthy and protected by the First Amendment's press freedom guarantee in the U.S. Constitution.
