A bombshell $787.5m settlement was reached on Tuesday in the defamation trial between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News, avoiding a painful trial for the right-wing network, owner Rupert Murdoch and some of its top hosts.
Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson announced the settlement outside court, saying: “The truth matters, lies have consequences.”
Despite acknowledging the Delaware court found some of its election reporting to be false, Fox News stopped short of formally apologising.
Its parent company Fox Corporation acknowledged the $787.5m settlement figure for the first time in an SEC filing on Wednesday.
The trial had been due to begin on Monday, but the start was delayed for more than a day as attorneys for both parties engaged in last-minute negotiations.
Mediator Jerry Roscoe told CNN he helped negotiate the deal after receiving an urgent call while on holiday in Europe on Sunday.
The lead attorneys had been “really far apart” on a settlement figure, before the deal was thrashed out over Zoom and on phone calls, he said.
The settlement allowed the network’s anchors including Sean Hannity to avoid having to testify in the most high-profile media trial of the decade.
