Fox News to Pay $787.5 Million to Settle Defamation Claims Brought by Susman Godfrey Client, Dominion Voting Systems

Fox News to Pay $787.5 Million to Settle Defamation Claims Brought by Susman Godfrey Client, Dominion Voting Systems

Susman Godfrey client, Dominion Voting Systems, and Fox News have reached a $787.5 million settlement to resolve Dominion’s massive defamation suit against Fox, just before jury trial was to commence in Delaware Superior Court.

In March 2021, Dominion filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox over claims that Fox News and its commentators relentlessly stated that Dominion’s voting machines were at the center of a vast conspiracy in the 2020 election to steal votes from President Donald Trump and swing them to his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. This historic settlement, which is believed to be the largest defamation-related settlement ever struck, put an end to that lawsuit.

In a press conference outside the courtroom, Dominion’s co-lead counsel, partner Justin Nelson, said the $787.5 million settlement — roughly a quarter of Fox News available cash at the time of the deal — “represents vindication and accountability” and shows that “lies have consequences.” Nelson is joined as co-lead counsel on the matter by Partners Stephen Shackelford, and Davida Brook. The three lawyers are also currently leading similar litigation against Newsmax, OAN, MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne, and against Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, both former lawyers for Donald J. Trump.

The landmark news has made media waves, receiving coverage from The New York Times (who called the settlement, “the latest extraordinary twist in a case that has been full of remarkable disclosures”), The Washington Post (who called the matter, “one of the most highly-anticipated media trials in decades), Wall Street Journal (who said, “the case was set to test the contours of modern media law”) and several other major news outlets. In addition, Nelson, Shackelford and Brook were named Litigators of the Week by Law.com for their work on the matter.

Nelson, Shackelford and Brook are joined on the matter by partners Jonathan Ross, Katie Sammons, Laranda Walker, Mark Hatch-Miller, Zach Savage, Edgar Sargent, associates Elizabeth Hadaway, Florence Chen, Katy Peaslee, Jordan Rux, Eve Levin, and of counsel Christina Dieckmann. Co-counsel to Dominion on the matter is Clare Locke LLP and Farnan LLP.

The cases are US Dominion Inc. et al. v. Fox News Network LLC, case number N21C-03-257, and US Dominion Inc. et al. v. Fox Corp. et al., case number N21C-11-082, in Delaware Superior Court.