Judge Chides Fox News Over Dominion Claim of ‘Missing’ Murdoch Documents

Judge Chides Fox News Over Dominion Claim of ‘Missing’ Murdoch Documents :In a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, an attorney for the election-technology business said on Tuesday that Fox News suppressed information that would have allowed Dominion to get more of network co-founder Rupert Murdoch’s conversations.

Dominion’s lawyer, Justin Nelson, said before the court that his client had been misled into thinking that Murdoch solely held the position of officer for Fox’s parent business. But in recent days, he claimed, Dominion has discovered the mogul also held an officer position with Fox News.

Nelson stated, “This has alone meant that we are missing a whole bunch of Rupert Murdoch documents that we would have otherwise been entitled to.” The situation we are in is really alarming. It’s something that has significantly impacted how we have handled this case’s litigation. (Judge Chides Fox News Over Dominion Claim of ‘Missing’ Murdoch Documents)

Judge Eric M. Davis shared Nelson’s dissatisfaction with Fox, stating that the absence of information concerning Murdoch’s position could have had an impact on his recent decision to limit the case’s scope. I could have made a completely bad choice, Davis said. In response to a Fox News lawyer, the court said that the network has a “credibility problem.”

David Compliment

Davis said, “My issue is that it’s been made clear to me more than once that he’s not an official of Fox News. “I need to trust that you are telling me the truth when you represent anything to me. Right now, I’m not all that happy. I’m not sure why this is such a challenge.

Fox is being sued by Dominion over allegedly rigged voting equipment used to switch the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, according to false allegations made on Fox programs by pro-Donald Trump loyalists. Even while the network continued to carry these assertions, Murdoch, among many other Fox executives and presenters, were shown expressing strong skepticism about them in internal Fox correspondence that were made public as part of the discovery process.

The 92-year-old billionaire’s participation in the trial, which begins with jury selection on Thursday, is still uncertain. Although no attendance date has been set, Davis has stated that he thought Murdoch was important enough to the case to be forced to testify.

A Counsel for Fox Referred to Murdoch’s Status

An counsel for Fox referred to Murdoch’s status as an officer of Fox News as “honorific” and emphasized the fact that Murdoch mentioned his role as head of Fox Corporation while being questioned. Fox Corp’s spokeswoman noted that “Rupert Murdoch has been listed as executive chairman of Fox News in our [Securities and Exchange Commission] filings for several years and this filing was referenced by Dominion’s own attorney during his deposition.”

The voting-technology company got the chance to speak with Murdoch and collect some of his correspondence since Dominion sued both Fox Corp. and Fox News, though Nelson thought more documentation ought to have been provided. Dominion is, according to Nelson, “still evaluating our options.” In the end, the judge indicated on Tuesday that he doesn’t think the information would affect the case negatively, but that he still needs to decide how to handle it.

I don’t think it’s that big of an issue, he replied, “that we have to turn the battleship around for this.” “We’ll take care of it,” But the judge came back to the fresh information after the session was over. He told Fox’s lawyer, “I’m not furious with you. “I’m upset about the circumstance I’m in. I must thus decide how I will respond to that. A Fox Corp. comment was added to this article at 9:30 p.m.

Reference :

• http://shankeymakers.com/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/11/dominion-judge-chides-fox-murdoch/
• https://bit.ly/405Ag7r