Fox, Dominion argue over legal standards to prove defamation

By RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Lawyers for Fox News and a voting machine company are tangling over the high bar to prove defamation in a $1.6 billion lawsuit that has embarrassed the conservative network over its airing of false claims related to the 2020 presidential election. The argument is at the heart of both sides’ attempt to persuade a Delaware judge that he should grant summary judgment in their favor and avoid a trial scheduled to start next month. The trial would focus in part on media protections afforded in a nearly six-decade-old libel standard. Dominion Voting Systems claims that Fox program hosts repeatedly allowed allies of former President Donald Trump to falsely claim the company’s machines were responsible for Trump’s election loss.