Fox News May Face Sky High Damages

[babylonsister]

https://politicalwire.com/2023/03/12/fox-news-may-face-sky-high-damages/

Fox News May Face Sky High Damages
March 12, 2023 at 6:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Katie Phang: “I spent almost 25 years as a trial lawyer before I became the host of the Katie Phang Show. Whether it was a criminal or civil case, the facts and the evidence are what mattered the most. And my currency as a trial lawyer? The truth. Sure, as a lawyer, you perfect the art of the spin. But at the end of the day, and no matter how hard you try to make it look nicer or sound better, it’s the truth that will either bring victory or a crushing defeat.”

“In the Dominion versus Fox News defamation case, Fox is now trapped in an ever-worsening spiral of lies of its own creation. Time and time again, Fox allegedly trafficked in lies and falsehoods. And the result just might be a financial death penalty for the network…”

“Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in lost profits and reputational harm. But it’s also seeking punitive damages, which are not capped under New York state law and could also be in the billions of dollars.”

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Believe it when I see it, and then there will be appeals

As long as the lawyers think they'll get paid, crooks will keep on litigating.

[True Dough]

2. Bankruptcy is the only option

that will satisfy me. They achieved moral bankruptcy long ago, now it's time for their financial situation to match.

[CousinIT]

3. Too Evil to Fail.

Unfortunately, Fox MAGA Propaganda Ministry is well funded and will continue to be in perpetuity by the billionaires they exclusively serve. No amount of money will destroy them.

They are a maggot-infested boil on the face of Democracy. Indelible. Efforts to destroy them will likely fail.

They are too evil to fail.

Nice fantasy though.

[FoxNewsSucks]

12. They'll probably ask for a federal bailout.

If republicons take over government again, they'll probably get it.

[Ocelot II]

4. Facts do matter, Katie. The Dominion case was filed in Delaware, not New York.

Delaware doesn't cap punitive damages either, but she should have got the case's venue right before going on about the importance of the truth. It was just a mistake, not a lie, but still...

[PJMcK]

5. Yeah, sloppy

Katie can do better.

[onenote]

6. Yep. And she ignored the fact that the Constitution limits punitive damages

according to Supreme Court precedent and that any punitive damages award against Fox that is so onerous as to threaten the company's existence will be appealed to the Supreme Court and, in all likelihood, the court would take the case and reverse the award.

There are a lot of "pundits" -- and posters here on DU -- that are taking it as a given that Fox loses and that its loss is affirmed on appeal. My experience tells me that there are few "slam dunk" cases and that while Dominion has a strong case, defamation cases are always a crap shoot to a certain degree.

[Ocelot II]

9. Also true. Most states don't have a specific cap, but an award that is beyond punitive

and actually might obliterate the defendant financially would certainly be reduced on appeal. The point of punitive damages is to hit them hard enough to get their attention so they don't do the thing again, not to destroy them. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing Fox squashed like roadkill, but that's not going to happen. It's a very strong defamation case - but as you said, those are never a slam-dunk, and no matter what happens at the trial it will be appealed.

[MissMillie]

11. I THOUGHT so!

I'm sitting here reading it, and saying... "What's New York law got to do with it?"

[GregariousGroundhog]

7. There is somewhat of a soft limit on punitive damages

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that when the ratio of punitive damages to compensatory damages exceed single digit ratios, the punitive damages are usually excessive. So if punitive damages assessed against Fox exceed $16 billion (assuming Dominion gets the the full $1.6 billion compensatory damages), Fox would likely succeed in getting an appeals court to reduce them.

So Fox's total liability is probably somewhere between $1.6 billion and $16 billion. If Fox issued bonds at 6% (reasonable for their BBB+ credit rating) to fund their payment against this judgement, that would cost them somewhere between 9.6 and 96 million dollars a month (or 115 million to 1.15 billion per year.)

Alternatively, they could issue new stock. That would risk diluting the Murdoch's family 39.6% ownership though.

[GoCubsGo]

8. I hope they sue the shit out of al lthose spokesmouths, too.

Cucker, LaLa Ingraham, Hannity, Jesse Watters, The "Fox and Friends" crowd... They are just as culpable as is their organization.

[NNadir]

10. Hope springs eternal.

[hadEnuf]

13. Fox is finally starting to be exposed. Fox has been the elephant in the room for us, but not so much

the rest of the country. Fox has always been nothing more than a propaganda organ that openly lies for the Republican party while masquerading as a legitimate news service.
No more twisting the 1st Amendment on it's head to make excuses. Lying propaganda has consequences and it's about time they faced some.

Everybody needs to be jumping on this band wagon to stop the facade and put Fox where it belongs: tabloid bs and regulated as such.