Judge Sanctions Fox News for Withholding Evidence in Dominion $1.6B Defamation Case 

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis sanctioned Fox News on Wednesday for withholding evidence in Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the news outlet.

Judge Davis’s sanction came after lawyers for Dominion highlighted numerous instances of Fox News attorneys’ failure to turn over evidence promptly, according to a person present in the courtroom.

Some of the newly turned over evidence includes recordings made by former Fox employee Abby Grossberg that feature former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani claiming he did not have evidence to back up claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor. These recordings were done before pre-taped Fox appearances and were circulated and discussed within Fox, according to Grossberg.

Dominion’s defamation lawsuit accuses Fox News of harming its reputation by airing Trump and his attorneys’ claims that the Denver-based company’s voting machines were used to rig the election.

Fox News has argued that Trump and his attorneys’ claims were newsworthy and protected by the First Amendment’s right to freedom of the press.

CNN Legal Analyst Honig: Fox News Is Headed for ‘Full-Blown Journalistic and Legal Disaster’:

Fox denied that it withheld these recordings from Dominion.

“As counsel explained to the court, Fox produced the supplemental information from Ms. Grossberg when we first learned it,” a Fox News spokesman said in a statement Wednesday.

Grossberg has filed a separate lawsuit against Fox News, claiming her deposition was coerced. Grossberg’s Tuesday court filing brought the recordings to light, which also include conversations with former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.

“We are pleased that the Court recognized the very serious apparent discovery-related and other gross misconduct perpetrated by Fox News and its team of high-powered attorneys in relation to the Dominion v. Fox lawsuit that our client, Abby Grossberg, has courageously and repeatedly revealed in her lawsuits against the Network,” Grossberg’s attorneys said in a statement Wednesday.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters after a court hearing, Monday, December 12, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Michael Sisak)

Judge Davis’ sanctions come as jury selection is scheduled for Thursday, with the trial set to start on Monday.

Davis also ruled that if Dominion needs to redo or conduct additional depositions before the trial, “Fox will do everything they can to make the person available, and it will be at a cost to Fox,” the New York Times reported.

It is unclear whether Dominion’s attorneys will follow through with additional depositions.

Judge Davis also berated Fox’s attorneys for not being “straightforward” with him.

In a pretrial conference on Tuesday, Davis said Fox News had a “credibility problem” after disclosing nearly two years later that Rupert Murdoch is an officer of Fox News rather than just an officer of the parent company Fox Corporation.

Rupert Murdoch introduces Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the Herman Kahn Award Gala on Oct. 30, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Davis said he was concerned that there had been “misrepresentations to the court,” specifically about Rupert Murdoch’s role in Fox News.

“This is very serious,” Davis added.

“What do I do with attorneys that aren’t straightforward with me?” Davis asked at one point.

“We have been litigating based upon this false premise that Rupert Murdoch wasn’t an officer of Fox News,” Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson said.

Still, Fox News claimed that Murdoch’s role as executive chairman of Fox News is not a new revelation.

“Rupert Murdoch has been listed as executive chairman of Fox News in our S.E.C. filings since 2019 and this filing was referenced by Dominion’s own attorney during his deposition,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement.

Davis also signaled his plans to appoint a special master on the case to investigate Fox News’s discovery issues and whether they withheld information about the scope of Murdoch’s role in the company.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.