Fox obviously wanted to avoid this spectacle, but Dominion’s decision to settle the case reflects a standard and legitimate concern over unpredictable litigation risk. As a result, it is very likely that Fox’s lawyers had already priced out the cost of a potential settlement with Smartmatic using whatever methodology was used to structure the Dominion settlement. This is not to say that Fox needed a precise formula — just some rough set of principles and guidelines that could also be used to settle the Smartmatic case on financially acceptable terms. For now, the company’s lawyers are doing what they should be doing and claiming that they will destroy Fox in litigation. In hindsight, at least, it seems clear that Dominion’s case got far too intertwined with the post-2020 lexicon of democratic salvation and election integrity than it should have been.

Source: Fox News April 20, 2023 19:39 UTC