Trial date set in defamation suit against Fox News over U.S. election claims

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) – (This April 12 story corrects name of choose in third paragraph.)

An April 2023 jury demo has been scheduled in Dominion Voting Techniques Inc’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit accusing Fox Information of seeking to increase its rankings by falsely boasting the voting machine organization rigged the 2020 U.S. presidential election towards former President Donald Trump.

In a shorter composed order issued on Friday, Delaware condition courtroom decide Eric Davis explained he was scheduling Denver-primarily based Dominion’s lawsuit for trial on April 17, 2023. Fox, element of Fox Corp (FOXA.O), experienced asked Owens for a demo day in early 2024.

Davis set aside five weeks for the demo, which could be the 1st of a number of involving baseless claims produced by a selection of news shops and men and women about Dominion’s technological innovation. Dominion submitted its lawsuit in opposition to Fox Information in March 2021.

Persons connected with Trump’s marketing campaign, which include attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, floated conspiracy theories that Dominion rigged vote totals in the weeks following the Nov. 3, 2020, election in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Trump.

Dominion has filed defamation lawsuits versus quite a few Trump allies, which include Giuliani and Powell, as well as conservative tv networks Newsmax and Just one The united states News. One more election technological know-how company at the center of conspiracy theories, Smartmatic, has submitted equivalent lawsuits.

The defendants have stated they ended up commenting on issues of general public problem and their remarks are no cost speech safeguarded by the U.S. Constitution’s Initial Modification.

Davis in December dominated in opposition to a Fox News request that he dismiss Dominion’s lawsuit. Owens wrote in his ruling that it was “fairly conceivable” that Dominion has a feasible defamation claim, and authorized the firm to keep on to request files and witness testimony from Fox.

Fox News reps have known as Dominion’s lawsuit “baseless” and have said the community remains fully commited to defending alone.

“As we have managed, FOX Information, together with every single news business throughout the place, vigorously protected the breaking news surrounding the unprecedented 2020 election, giving full context of every single story with in-depth reporting and distinct-slash assessment,” a Fox spokesperson mentioned in December.

Fox News and Dominion representatives did not instantly reply to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe Modifying by Will Dunham

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