Fox News LLC’s $787.5M Dominion Settlement: Ruling and Concessions

Fox News paid $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems in April 2023 to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election. The Fox News Dominion settlement, formally ending US Dominion, Inc. v. Fox News Network, LLC, was reached on April 18, 2023, hours after jury selection ended and just before opening statements were set to begin in Delaware Superior Court.¹ It stands as one of the largest defamation settlements in American history.

What Dominion Sued Over

Dominion filed its complaint in March 2021 and sought $1.6 billion in damages. The suit named Fox News Network, LLC and its parent Fox Corporation, and it centered on broadcasts by five hosts — Maria Bartiromo, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, and Jeanine Pirro — plus frequent guests Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell.²

Dominion grouped the alleged falsehoods into four categories: that the company rigged the election, that its software contained a vote-switching algorithm, that its technology traced back to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and that its officials had taken kickbacks.³ Dominion said it sent more than 3,600 communications to Fox reporters and producers attempting to correct the record, starting on November 12, 2020.⁴

To win, Dominion had to meet the actual malice standard from New York Times v. Sullivan, showing that Fox knew the statements were false or aired them with reckless disregard for the truth.⁵ That is a high bar in American defamation law. The discovery record is what made it clearable.

What Fox Employees Said Privately

Discovery produced thousands of internal texts, emails, and deposition transcripts showing that Fox hosts and executives privately dismissed the fraud claims their network was broadcasting.

Tucker Carlson called the claims “ludicrous” and told a producer on November 8, 2020, that “the software s–t is absurd.” On November 18, he texted Laura Ingraham: “Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane… Our viewers are good people and they believe it.” Ingraham replied that “no serious lawyer could believe what they were saying” and called Powell “a complete nut.”⁴

Sean Hannity described Giuliani as “acting like an insane person” and called the people pushing the fraud story “F’ing lunatics.” Maria Bartiromo described a Powell email about supposed fraud evidence as “kooky.” A senior Fox vice president called one of the stories “MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS.”⁶

Fox’s internal fact-checking unit, the “Brainroom,” concluded on November 13, 2020, that there was “no evidence of widespread fraud” and that claims about Dominion switching votes were “100% false.”³

One episode in the discovery record involved suppression inside the newsroom. After reporter Jacqui Heinrich fact-checked a Trump claim about Dominion that had aired on Hannity’s and Dobbs’s shows, Carlson messaged Hannity: “Please get her fired. Seriously what the fuck?… It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down.” Hannity complained to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, who said Heinrich had “serious nerve.” Heinrich deleted her tweet.⁶

The Judge’s Ruling Before Trial

On March 31, 2023, Judge Eric M. Davis ruled on cross-motions for summary judgment. He denied Fox’s motion to dismiss and granted Dominion’s motion in part, holding that the falsity of the statements about Dominion was established as a matter of law. Davis wrote that it was “CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” and he rejected Fox’s arguments that the broadcasts qualified as protected opinion or neutral reportage.⁷

That ruling left only actual malice for the jury to decide. Given the internal messages, legal observers viewed Dominion’s evidentiary position as unusually strong. Media-law scholar Sandra Baron said such candid internal admissions were “virtually unheard of” in defamation litigation.⁸

How the Settlement Happened

Trial was originally scheduled for April 17, 2023, and Judge Davis pushed it one day.⁹ On April 18, twelve jurors and twelve alternates were seated by about 10:53 a.m., with opening statements set for 1:30 p.m. After an unexplained afternoon delay, the parties announced a deal. Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million, roughly half of Dominion’s $1.6 billion demand. Jurors were dismissed at 4:00 p.m.¹

Fox Corporation held more than $4 billion in cash at the end of 2022 and absorbed the payment without selling assets. The figure equaled about 65 percent of the company’s $1.2 billion in net income for the fiscal year ending June 2022. Fox’s stock closed just 16 cents lower the day the settlement was announced.¹⁰

What Fox Did and Didn’t Concede

Fox’s statement acknowledged “the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false” and expressed hope the country could “move forward from these issues.”¹¹ There was no on-air apology and no retraction. Beyond acknowledging Judge Davis’s earlier finding of falsity, Fox made no formal admission of wrongdoing.⁸

Because the case ended before trial, it produced no jury verdict and no binding legal precedent on actual malice. Scholar Samantha Barbas said the outcome nonetheless confirmed that the Sullivan standard, while demanding, is “not impossible” to meet.⁸ An analysis found that of the 26 largest conservative media outlets, only eight reported on the settlement, and just four mentioned the internal communications. Polling showed 68 percent of Republicans continued to believe the 2020 election was decided by fraud, essentially unchanged after the settlement.¹²

What’s Still Pending Against Fox

The Dominion payment did not end Fox’s exposure over 2020 election coverage. Smartmatic, another voting technology company, is pursuing a $2.7 billion defamation suit filed in February 2021 in New York state court. It names Fox News, Bartiromo, Pirro, and the late Lou Dobbs (who died in 2024), along with Giuliani and Powell.¹³

Fox sought to pause the case after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida charged Smartmatic in a scheme alleging bribery of a Philippine election official in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.¹⁴ Justice David B. Cohen denied the stay, ruling the Philippine criminal case did not decide the 2020 U.S. defamation claims.¹⁵ In May 2026, a New York appellate court allowed Fox additional discovery tied to the indictment but affirmed the denial of a stay. The case is still in discovery.¹⁶

Fox also faces a shareholder derivative suit filed in September 2023 by five New York City pension funds and the State of Oregon. It alleges the company’s board breached its fiduciary duty by letting the defamatory broadcasts air, and it seeks to recover the $787.5 million paid to Dominion and related legal costs. The consolidated case, In re Fox Corporation Derivative Litigation, is pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery.¹⁷

1
NBC News. Fox News-Dominion Trial Live Updates
2
Justia. US Dominion Inc. v. Fox News Network LLC, N21C-03-257 EMD
3
Delaware Superior Court. US Dominion Inc. v. Fox News Network LLC, Opinion
4
ABC News. Fox News Hosts Allegedly Said Privately Versus on Air About False Election Claims
5
Brennan Center for Justice. Dominion Voting’s Libel Suits, the First Amendment, and Actual Malice
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The Guardian. Fox News Dominion Voting Systems Defamation Case Analysis
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The Conversation. Defamation Was at the Heart of the Lawsuit Settled by Fox News With Dominion
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First Amendment Watch. Legal Scholars Weigh in on the Lasting Significance of Dominion v. Fox
9
Reuters. Timeline of Key Events Leading Up to Fox-Dominion Defamation Trial
10
NBC News. Fox News Dominion Defamation Settlement Financial Impact
11
Fox News Press. Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems Reach Settlement
12
Columbia Political Review. Dominion v. Fox Won a Battle in a Losing War
13
NPR. Fox News Smartmatic Lawsuit Election Claims
14
Department of Justice. Voting Machine Company Charged in Philippine Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme
15
Courthouse News Service. Fox Loses Bid to Pause Smartmatic Defamation Case
16
New York Courts. Smartmatic USA Corp. v. Fox Corp., Appellate Division Decision
17
Delaware Court of Chancery. In Re Fox Corporation Derivative Litigation, C.A. No. 2023-0418-JTL