Judge denies Fox’s move to dismiss Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit

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Dominion Voting Systems‘ lawsuit against Fox Corp. can continue making its way through the legal system, a judge ruled June 21, 2022.

The suit, which specifically names Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, is just one of multiple cases Dominion and competitor Smartmatic are pursuing against prominent conservative voices who have made unsubstantiated claims that its machines somehow helped swing the election for President Joe Biden.

In denying Fox’s motion to dismiss, Delaware state Judge Eric M. Davis will allow the suit, which claims Fox execs, including the Murdochs, “exerted direct control over Fox News’ programming decisions.”

Davis also suggested in his ruling that it is possible the Murdochs acted with “actual malice” in their alleged involvement in deciding what the network aired. The suit accuses the network of trying bolster ratings by airing the false information about voting machines.

According to a Supreme Court ruling from 1964, actual malice can be defined as “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

Davis did dismiss claims against Fox Broadcasting Company, which is a separate entity from the Fox Media division that runs Fox’s conservative commentary channel. Those claims included allegations of defamation for content posted to Fox.com. Fox’s cable channel runs FoxNews.com.

Meanwhile, Newsmax, which is facing a separate but similar lawsuit also saw its motion to be dismissed and denied by Davis as well.

Others in the conservative sphere facing suits include OAN, pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell.

A separate judge denied calls to dismiss various lawsuits against Powell, Giuliani, MyPillow and Lindell.

Combined, Dominion is seeking billions in damages against Fox and other conservative media and individuals.

After the charges were initially reported, Fox said in a statement that it stands by its reporting on the voting machine companies.

Since then, Fox and OAN have both aired disclaimers when airing claims against the voting machine companies.