On Wednesday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis imposed sanctions on Fox News in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems. According to someone present at the court hearing, the sanctions were imposed after Fox News withheld records until the eve of the trial, granting Dominion an opportunity to gather further evidence.
Judge Davis also stated that he would likely appoint an external investigator to examine Fox's late disclosure of evidence and take necessary steps to rectify the situation, which he described as concerning.
It remains uncertain if Dominion will pursue new depositions. Fox News responded in a statement, claiming they "produced the supplemental information" to Dominion "when we first learned it."
The evidence in question included recordings made by a former Fox employee of Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump's attorney, admitting before pre-recorded Fox appearances that he lacked evidence to support the baseless allegations of election rigging by Dominion in the 2020 election, which form the basis of the lawsuit.
Jury selection for the case is scheduled to begin on Thursday. Dominion filed the lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp, in 2021, accusing them of damaging its reputation by airing false claims made by Trump and his lawyers that Dominion's voting machines were used to manipulate the election results against Trump and in favor of Joe Biden.
As part of the sanctions, Judge Davis ruled that if Dominion needs to conduct further depositions or redo existing ones, Fox News must make the individual available at their expense, according to a report by the New York Times.
The judge's decision was influenced by information from a new filing in a separate lawsuit against Fox by Abby Grossberg, a former network producer. Grossberg's latest filing revealed that she possessed tapes of former Trump lawyers, including Giuliani, admitting they lacked evidence for their allegations. According to Grossberg, the recordings and transcripts were widely circulated and discussed within Fox News.
Judge Davis mentioned in a pretrial conference on Tuesday that Fox News faced a "credibility problem" after the network disclosed for the first time in nearly two years of litigation that Rupert Murdoch was an officer of the company. As a Fox News officer, Murdoch would likely have been subject to more extensive discovery by Dominion.
A Fox spokesperson stated on Tuesday that Murdoch has been listed as Fox News' executive chairman in Securities and Exchange Commission filings since 2019, and that a Dominion attorney referenced that filing during Murdoch's deposition.
As early as Monday, Murdoch is expected to be called to the witness stand, as reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday, citing individuals familiar with the situation.
Fox News has argued that its coverage of the vote-rigging allegations was inherently newsworthy and protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press.