Fox Corp. and Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million on Tuesday, averting a high-profile trial that put one of the world's top media companies in the crosshairs over its coverage of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 U.S. election.
The settlement was announced by the two sides and the judge in the case at the 11th hour, with a jury selected just hours earlier in Delaware and the trial poised to kick off with opening statements. Dominion had sought $1.6 billion in damages in the lawsuit filed in 2021.
Dominion CEO John Poulos called the settlement "historic."