It was far and away the highest publicly known defamation settlement in US history, and a milestone in the numerous lawsuits filed over false conspiracy theories that Dominion and a rival election technology company, Smartmatic, rigged the 2020 presidential election.
In the aftermath of the election, Dominion and Smartmatic launched a series of defamation lawsuits against right-wing media organizations and influencers who falsely claimed they manipulated election results.
Many of those are still pending.
Here's a list of everyone who's been sued.
Sidney Powell by Dominion and SmartmaticAttorney Sidney Powell at a Trump Campaign press conference.
Powell was one of the faces of the Trump campaign's legal team in November, but Trump kicked her off the team after she floated her conspiracy theory at a press conference.
Despite being purged from Trump's "Elite Strike Force" legal team Powell used her false theories as the premise of four federal lawsuits seeking to overturn the election result. All of them failed, and some have resulted in motions for her to be disbarred.
The falsehoods from Powell and Rudy Giuliani, another conspiracy theorist attorney hired by Trump to challenge his election loss, formed the basis for Dominion's lawsuit against Fox. Dominion claimed Fox defamed the company when hosts brought Powell and Giuliani as on-air guests and either endorsed their claims or didn't sufficiently challenge them.
Dominion's lawsuit alleges against Powell claimed she caused the company business losses after she baselessly accused the company of fraud, election rigging, and bribery.
"Powell's statements were calculated to — and did in fact — provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm," Tom Clare, the attorney representing Dominion, wrote in the lawsuit.
The 124-page defamation lawsuit also outlines how Powell raised money from her media tour peddling her conspiracy theory through a corporate vehicle called "Defending the Republic," also named as a party in the lawsuit.
Powell responded by tweeting that the lawsuit "is baseless & filed to harass, intimidate, & to drain our resources as we seek the truth of #DominionVotingSystems' role in this fraudulent election."
The company claimed that Powell and Giuliani used right-wing media outlets like Fox News to make their conspiracy theories go viral.
"These defendants are primary sources of much of the false information," the company said. "Their unfounded accusations were repeated by other media outlets, journalists, bloggers and influencers the world over."
The discovery in Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News could prove highly damaging for Powell. Emails showed that Powell's claims of election fraud relied in part on someone claiming to be a time-traveling headless ghost.
Rudy Giuliani by Dominion and SmartmaticFormer New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani at a Trump Campaign press conference.
In the lawsuit, Dominion accused Giuliani of creating "a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion," referring to more than 50 of his statements.
Through hearings, television appearances, Twitter, and his own YouTube show, it said, Giuliani repeatedly accused Dominion of election fraud and misrepresented the company's security measures while doing so.
He "cashed in by hosting a podcast where he exploited election falsehoods to market gold coins, supplements, cigars and protection from 'cyberthieves,'" Dominion wrote in the lawsuit.
The 107-page document also cited numerous other people who said they believed Giuliani's claims, which it argued demonstrated the scope of the damage.
"Rudy Giuliani actively propagated disinformation to purposefully mislead voters," Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a statement. "Because Giuliani and others incessantly repeated the false claims about my company on a range of media platforms, some of our own family and friends are among the Americans who were duped."
In a statement, Giuliani said he welcomed the lawsuit and suggested he had not previously done a thorough investigation of Dominion's practices.
The company said Giuliani used the conspiracy theories to enrich himself.
"He reportedly would seek thousands of dollars ($20,000/day) in fees from President Trump to spread the story and file frivolous lawsuits," Smartmatic wrote in its lawsuit.
"He would also use the attention brought to him as one of the primary storytellers to sell various products – from coins to supplements to title fraud protection."
Judges in both cases have allowed them to proceed to trial.
Mike Lindell by Dominion and SmartmaticMyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Dominion's lawsuit accused Lindell of repeatedly making false allegations while knowing there was no credible evidence to support his claims. As well as rallies, interviews, and a two-hour movie, Lindell used his social-media profiles to spread his baseless claims of voter fraud.
He "knowingly lied about Dominion to sell more pillows to people who continued tuning in to hear what they wanted to hear about the election," Dominion wrote.
"I looked at it as a great day for America when they sued me," Lindell added. "I can put the evidence for the whole world to see, and it'll be public record, and the media will quit trying to suppress it."
"In November and December 2020, Fox News broadcast multiple reports stating and implying that Smartmatic had fixed and rigged the 2020 election," the company said.
"They repeated the false claims and accusations on air and in articles and social media postings that were together seen by millions in the US and even more around the world."
Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News initially asked for $1.6 billion in damages. It claimed the network gave prominence to the election-fraud claims as a tactic to revive viewership as ratings dropped after President Donald Trump's loss.
Before it settled, court filings indicated Smartmatic was paying close attention to the lawsuit, using Dominion's evidence to bolster its own case.
"Dominion's litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox's disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest," Smartmatic attorney J. Erik Connolly said in a statement after Dominion and Fox announce their settlement. "Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy."
Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs by SmartmaticFox News hosts Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs.
Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images, Roy Rochlin/Getty Images, Steven Ferdman/Getty Images
Smartmatic's 285-page lawsuit against Fox News also named the hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro as defendants.
Smartmatic said the hosts had offered Powell and Giuliani a platform and endorsed their falsehoods.
Newsmax was slow to acknowledge the reality of Biden's victory in the November 2020 election. Dominion accused Newsmax of promoting falsehoods about the company in order to compete with Fox News, which had correctly recognized Biden's victory in November.
"Newsmax chose to prioritize its profits over the truth," the lawsuit said. "For Ruddy and Newsmax, the facts did not matter. What mattered was feeding the audience what it wanted — even if it was spreading false information. And the race to the bottom began in earnest, dragging Dominion down with it."
Newsmax representative Brian Peterson told Insider after the lawsuit was filed that the media organization was simply reporting on what notable figures said.
"While Newsmax has not reviewed the Dominion filing, in its coverage of the 2020 Presidential elections, Newsmax simply reported on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the President, his advisors and members of Congress — Dominion's action today is a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press," Peterson said.
One America News by DominionA One America News reported.
Dominion said that OAN's falsehoods contributed toward the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 and that it defamed Dominion by broadcasting "Absolute Proof," Lindell's conspiracy theory-filled documentary about voter fraud.
Dominion also accused OAN hosts Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb of amplifying and spreading false claims about Dominion.
The lawsuit accuses Byrne, a staunch Trump ally, of waging "a defamatory disinformation campaign against Dominion" in collaboration with Powell, Giuliani, Lindell, and others. This includes pushing election conspiracy theories in television appearances, a blog series, a book, and a film, Dominion said.
"Byrne continues to stick to his manufactured, inherently improbable, profitable, and demonstrable lies," the lawsuit said.
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