On Monday, opening arguments begin in a trial pitting Dominion voting systems against Fox. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. Here's what you need to know about the case.
[Why is Dominion suing Fox News?]
Dominion is a US based voting technology company.
In 2021, it sued Fox News and parent company Fox Corp.
It alleges that Fox destroyed its business by airing claims that it knew were false regarding Dominion's role in the 2020 presidential election.
Those claims were that Dominion had flipped votes in favor of Democrat Joe Biden and against Republican Donald Trump.
TRUMP: "Bad things happening with voting, you know that."
[What is Dominion Voting Systems?]
Dominion sells ballot counting machines to election administrators across the U.S. and Canada, and for a while it was one of the three or so biggest players in that industry.
But it alleges that Fox's coverage destroyed its growth potential, and that's why it's seeking $1.6 billion in damages.
Now, Fox disputes that figure and says it's disproportionate to the company's value.
[What does Dominion need to do to prove defamation?]
To prevail, Dominion is going to have to prove that Fox knowingly spread false information or recklessly disregarded the truth with their coverage.
And that's the legal standard of actual malice, which applies in defamation cases against media companies.
Typically, this is a really high burden for plaintiffs to meet in defamation cases.
But Dominion says that the thousands of pages of internal documents it's dredged up in this lawsuit, as well as testimony at trial, will prove that Fox knew these claims were false and invited these guests who were making them on anyway because they were worried about losing viewers to right wing competitors.
[What does Fox say?]
Fox has argued that it was reporting newsworthy claims that were made by President Trump and his lawyers and that by doing so, they're protected by the First Amendment.
However, in a recent ruling, a judge rejected those claims.
Fox has also argued in recent legal filings that Dominion's $1.6 billion damages claim is untethered from reality and designed to enrich Dominion's investors.
Fox has argued that no one at the company knowingly spread false claims about Dominion, and that in particular, Dominion can't pin blame on higher-ups such as Chairman Rupert Murdoch.
[Who could take the stand?]
The trial is expected to feature testimony from a parade of high profile figures at Fox, that includes on air personalities like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, but also higher-ups at the corporation, including Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, his son Lachlan Murdoch, who's Fox's chief executive.
And that testimony will likely be a climax of the trial because throughout this case, Dominion has really tried to hammer home this idea that Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and other Fox executives were aware that these election claims were false, didn't believe them, but allowed them to continue to air in pursuit of ratings.
