The fallout from the many claims that the 2020 election was rigged has continued to keep corporate lawyers busy, including ones at Fox News.
According to The Washington Times, Fox attorneys recently asked a judge to toss a shareholder lawsuit that was launched after they said profits plummeted in the wake of the 2020 election after some of the network's reporters continued the narrative that the election was stolen.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed that the network turned a "blind eye" to the potential liability of some of the network's reporters who made claims or insinuations that the election was rigged or stolen from Donald Trump.
The plaintiffs, according to the outlet, include "Five New York City public employee pension funds, along with Oregon’s public employee retirement fund."
Some of the network's reporters suggested at the time that there was truth to conspiracies regarding the rigging of voting systems deployed by Smartmatic USA and Dominion Voting Systems.
Smartmatic is still suing Fox News for defamation, and the company recently settled a defamation lawsuit with One America News Network over similar claims.
Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems last year for a staggering sum of $787 million, causing complete chaos at the cable news network.
“The Murdochs could have minimized future monetary exposure, but they chose not to,” Joel Friedlander, an attorney for the institutional shareholders, said.
The Washington Times noted:
Instead, he argued, they engaged in “bad-faith decision making” with other defendants in a profit-driven effort to retain viewers and remain in Trump’s good graces.
The attorney added, "Decisions were made at the highest level to promote pro-Trump conspiracy theories without editorial control."
Fox attorneys argue that the lawsuit should be thrown out "because the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit without first demanding that the Fox Corp. board take action, as required under Delaware law."
Fox attorneys seek to dismiss shareholder lawsuit over reporting of vote rigging allegations in 2020 https://t.co/H3PXEJkgQB via @CdnPressNews
— timethief 🇨🇦 progressive centrist feminist (@timethief) November 23, 2024
While Fox News dominates the cable news world, it's clear that they're attempting to avoid another massive payout, on top of what might happen with the outcome of the Smartmatic USA case.
Only time will tell if the judge will toss it or let it play out.
