(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Does Dominion Voting have a Case? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-17 — Dominion thinks they do, given the incriminating details they have just released to the public, in their libel suit against Fox News. Given their approach to prove the elements of the crime, committed by the Fox “news broadcasters” — Dominion may end up proving the intentional malice, directed their way … by the professional liars at Fox. Here is the core of their legal argument, jumping in mid-stream: [Emphasis from source.] IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE US DOMINION, INC., DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS, INC., and DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS CORPORATION Plaintiffs V. FOX NEWS NETWORK, LLC, Defendants. CONSOLIDATED PUBLIC VERSION FILED ON FEBRUARY 16, 2023 [pg 5] [...] And normally plaintiffs in defamation cases do not move for summary judgment of liability, let alone file a 40,000-word opening brief. Here, however, [pg 6] Dominion details some of the extensive record evidence demonstrating Fox's liability on every point — covering this months-long period involving four categories of lies in twenty accused statements across six different shows with the active involvement of numerous Fox Executives. Dominion understands and embraces the heavy burden of plaintiffs moving for summary judgment on liability in defamation cases. Here, however, the facts demonstrate why no reasonable juror could find in Fox's favor on each element of Dominion's defamation claim. First, falsity. Fox broadcast false information. These lies fall into four categories, each provably false at the time. Fox falsely claimed: (1) Dominion committed election fraud by rigging the 2020 Presidential Election. (2) Dominion's software and algorithms manipulated vote counts in the 2020 Presidential Election. (3) Dominion is owned by a company founded in Venezuela to rig elections for the dictator Hugo Chavez. (4) Dominion paid kickbacks to government officials who used its machines in the 2020 Presidential Election. Numerous public sources and fact checks debunked the lies contemporaneously with Fox's multiple broadcasts. Recount after recount confirmed the accuracy of the counts. Dominion did not pay kickbacks. Smartmatic does not own Dominion, nor was Dominion formed in Venezuela to rig elections for Hugo Chavez. All these sources — and more — have established that Dominion did [pg 7] not participate in some massive criminal conspiracy. Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 Presidential Election. And as this Court already correctly concluded ,these factual assertions constitute actionable non-opinion statements. If nothing else, this Court should rule that the statements are false and grant partial summary judgment on falsity. No reasonable juror could find otherwise. See, infra, pp.46-82. Second, publication about Dominion. It is legally irrelevant that many — but not all — of the accused statements relate to false charges made by a guest and not a host. Fox is deemed the “publisher” of every statement those guests aired against Dominion. It is a “black-letter rule that one who republishes a libel is subject to liability just as if he had published it originally, even though he attributes the libelous statement to the original publisher, and even though he expressly disavows the truth of the statement." Cianci v. New Times Pub. Co., 639 F.2d 54, 60-61 (2d Cir 1980) (citation omitted). Moreover, liability attaches to all those who share responsibility for the decision to publish the statements. The broadcasts on their face also refer to Dominion and connect Dominion to the lies and the far-fetched conspiracy theories regarding the “massive” but non-existent fraud that supposedly flipped millions of votes from Trump to Biden. See, infra, pp.82-85. Third, actual malice. Actual malice requires a showing that those responsible for the publication either knew or “recklessly disregarded” the truth. Here, literally dozens of Fox employees had responsibility for at least one of the defamatory [pg 8] statements Prevailing on summary judgment requires finding that just one person met the required actual malice standard for each. The evidence demonstrates much more. Each person with responsibility either knew the truth or recklessly disregarded the truth. Normally, a plaintiff proves actual malice through circumstantial evidence and a variety of factors — such as inherent improbability, reliance on unreliable sources, departure from journalistic standards, financial motive to lie, deliberately turning a blind eye to contradictory evidence, adherence to a preconceived narrative, republication of false statements, or refusal to retract — because direct evidence of actual knowledge of falsity rarely exists. Each circumstantial factor cuts strongly in Dominion's favor. But here, the words of multiple Fox employees provide overwhelming direct evidence of actual malice. In addition to the evidence cited above, the excerpts below feature just some of the additional examples showing Fox employees knew at the time that these claims — and the guests promoting them — were: • "ludicrous” — Tucker Carlson, 11/20/20 (Ex.171)[2] • "totally off the rails" — Tucker Carlson, 12/24/20 (Ex.172) • "F'ing lunatics" — Sean Hannity, 12/22/20 (Ex. 122, Hannity 321: 3-14) [pg 9] • "nuts" — Dana Perino, 11/16/20(Ex.173) • "complete bs" — Producer John Fawcett to Lou Dobbs, 11/27/20 (Ex.174) • "kooky" -- Maria Bartiromo, regarding email received from Powell 11/07/20 (Ex.98, Bartiromo 141: 18-24) • "MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS" — Raj Shah, Fox Corporation SVP, 11/21/20 (Ex.175) The body of the brief provides even more evidence along the same lines. By the time Fox called the election on November 7, numerous Fox employees knew that Joe Biden had legitimately prevailed over Donald Trump and the charges against Dominion could not be true. As Fox Chief Political Correspondent Bret Baier stated on November 5, "There is NO evidence of fraud. None." Ex.176. [...] [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/17/2153622/-Does-Dominion-Voting-have-a-Case Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/