The Delaware judge overseeing the Fox News vs. Dominion case held a salty Wednesday pre-trial hearing, sharply scolding the defendant’s lawyers for withholding critical information about Rupert Murdoch’s role as a corporate officer at the cable network and suggesting that sanctions are on the table.
Dominion Voting Systems argued that during its two-year legal tangle over its defamation claims, Fox failed to disclose that the top Murdoch was an executive chair at Fox News. The plaintiffs’ lawyers told Judge Eric Davis that with that information, it could have obtained a significant amount of additional documents from Fox News during discovery.
The judge agreed – and said he will consider sanctioning Fox News lawyers defending the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. Davis, who has made headlines with critical decisions and dishy comments during the pre-trial phase, openly shared his doubts about the trustworthiness of lawyers for Fox News after learning of the discrepancy.
“What do I do with attorneys who aren’t straightforward with me?,” Davis asked. “I need people to tell me the truth … and by the way, an omission is a lie.”
Dominion said Fox steadfastly maintained during discovery that Fox News’ corporate officers were CEO Suzanne Scott, COO and CFO Joe Dorrego and President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace – but a new list Fox sent on Easter Sunday added Murdoch.
Fox says Murdoch disclosed his corporate role in his widely-read deposition – and noted that it’s been publicly available information for years. But Fox attorney Dan Webb also said neither he nor Murdoch necessarily knew the mogul was considered an executive chair at the network he founded.
Davis wasn’t buying any of it.
“You … [have a] credibility problem,” the judge said.
But Davis also clarified that he is “not mad” – and chose not to rule Wednesday on how to proceed. Instead, he said, he would take some time to decide how to sanction Fox, and did not elaborate on what that could entail.
Davis also handed a small defeat to Dominion on Wednesday, declining to de-couple Fox News and Fox Corp., which will remain consolidated as defendants.
