By Jack Queen and Helen Coster
WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) -Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday told the Delaware judge in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp that Fox News knew allegations of vote-rigging in the 2020 U.S. election were false but continued airing the claims in pursuit of ratings.
Dominion's attorneys made the argument as both sides sought during a pretrial hearing to convince Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis that he should rule in their favor without the need for the case to go to trial as scheduled on April 17.
Internal Fox communications prove that the network repeatedly hosted guests who it knew were peddling "reckless" and "completely crazy" falsehoods because it was losing viewers to far-right media competitors, Dominion's lawyers told the judge.
"They chose to let the story be out there - to let out the hoax, to release the Kraken," lawyer Rodney Smolla said, referring to a nickname for Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Republican former President Donald Trump. "And why? Because Fox viewers were abandoning Fox."
If the judge finds Fox liable for defamation at this stage of the litigation, the trial would concern only how much it must pay Dominion in damages.
Dominion sued Fox Corp and Fox News in 2021, accusing them of ruining its reputation by airing false claims by Trump and his lawyers that the Denver-based company's voting machines were used to rig the outcome of the election against him and in favor of Democrat...
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