Dominion case not end of defamation lawsuits

Last week's massive settlement of a defamation lawsuit against Fox News is the latest effort to seek accountability for those who spread false tales of election fraud. But it's not the last.

Two Fulton County, Ga., election workers whose lives were upended by false voting fraud accusations have filed defamation lawsuits against other media companies and individuals who spread the claims. And a Gwinnett County, Ga., man falsely accused of voting fraud has sued the producers of the film "2000 Mules."

It's far from certain the lawsuits will be successful - the defendants deny any wrongdoing. But the election workers have already had some success in court. And legal experts say the $787.5 million settlement in the Fox case bodes well for continuing efforts to hold people and institutions accountable for lies that undermined confidence in U.S. elections and led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"With what appears to be one of the largest defamation settlements in history, we can hope that this is the beginning of accountability and a restoration of respect for our election process and election officials," said David Becker, founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

The defamation lawsuits challenge some of the biggest lies about the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and other states. Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox for broadcasting false claims that its voting machines switched votes from Donald Trump to eventual victor Joe Biden.

There is no evidence for such claims, and the judge in the Fox lawsuit ruled they were false. The judge left it to a jury to decide whether Fox knew the claims were false or aired them with reckless disregard for whether they were false.

Media law experts have said the evidence against Fox was unusually strong. Internal correspondence among some of the network's biggest stars and executives indicated they did not believe the vote-switching claims even as they continued to air them for fear of losing viewers who believed the claims.

Dominion sought $1.6 billion in damages, and the trial was set to begin Tuesday. The parties announced a settlement minutes before opening arguments.

Clare Norins, director of the First Amendment Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law, said the settlement was not surprising given the evidence that "clearly showed Fox knew the allegations against Dominion were false but continued to repeat and amplify them." She said Fox's defense was further weakened when the court ruled that Fox could not argue that it published false information because the allegations against Dominion were newsworthy.

"While defamation claims involving public figures like Dominion are difficult to win, the evidence in this case was overwhelming," Norins said.

Meanwhile, other defamation lawsuits are working their way through the courts.

Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss were subjected to racist threats and harassment after they appeared in an edited video from State Farm Arena on election night. Trump, attorney Rudy Giuliani and others said the video showed the workers counting illegal ballots. Investigators for the U.S. attorney's office, the FBI and the Georgia secretary of state's office watched the entire video, interviewed witnesses and concluded nothing improper happened.

Freeman and Moss filed a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani and One America News Network in the U.S. District Court in Washington. OAN reached a settlement with the pair last year and admitted on the air that there was no evidence they committed election fraud.

Giuliani sought to have the lawsuit dismissed. In court filings, he argued his statements were opinions protected by the First Amendment. The judge in that case rejected Giuliani's arguments and his request to dismiss the lawsuit, which is still pending.

Freeman and Moss filed a separate lawsuit against the Gateway Pundit on similar grounds. In court records, the media company says the statements it aired were either true or protected opinion, and it relied on statements from a reliable source: Trump. The case is pending in the Circuit Court of St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Gwinnett County resident Mark Andrews has filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film "2000 Mules," which claimed to expose widespread absentee ballot fraud. Its claims have been investigated and debunked by Georgia election officials.

The film shows Andrews, with his face blurred, depositing five ballots into a drop box before the 2020 election. As the video rolls, a narrator says: "What you are seeing is a crime. These are fraudulent votes."

A state investigation determined Andrews was delivering ballots for himself and his family, which is legal under Georgia law.

Andrews' lawsuit seeks damages based on claims of defamation, intimidation and invasion of privacy. In court filings, the producers of the film argue they did not identify Andrews, and the views expressed in the film constitute protected opinion. The lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.