"Dominion Voting Systems Inc. filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, alleging it 'gave life' to a bogus conspiracy theory that the voting-machine company helped steal the election from Donald Trump." - Erik Larson, Bloomberg News, March 26, 2021.
Suing is the American way.
Therefore, the mere filing of a lawsuit means very little. What counts are the implications, immediate and longer term.
Based on those, what is obvious is that Fox News will have to take this litigation seriously. After the announcement of this high-dollar lawsuit, the defendant's stock plunged 2%. Both legal and business media outfits are covering this filing of litigaiton.
Now we will have to monitor what moves Rupert Murdoch will make in response to the contention of defamation. Will, for example, he tone down the rhetoric of conspiracy? That might not be an option since other conservative media outlifts such as Newsmax are after his lunch and dinner.
In the lawsuit, Dominion fingers increased competition as the driver of the Fox News' alleged escalating of misinformation regarding that corporation's role in Election 2020. A jury might find that claim credible.
Other knee-jerk reactions could be firings at Fox News and the appointment of some kind of "Truth Czar."
After the racial discrimination lawsuit - "Christine Crawford, et al. v. McDonald's USA" had been filed, that fast food corporation made a quick response.
As I had reported in this article:
"Among the[McDonald's USA] initiatives is to increase to 45% from the current 37% women in leadership roles by 2025. Also, the percentage of historically unrepresented minorities should be increased to 35% from 29% in leadership positions."
That move sent a signal in the court of public opinion that McDonald's USA had felt an impact from this filing. It wasn't just the-lawsuit-as-usual.
What also has made "Christine Crawford" signififcant is that a woman of color, partner at law firm Paul Weiss, Loretta Lynch heads the defense team.
That could be a smart tactic in the court of law, if the litigation moves onto trial. The jury might view the defense arguments in a more positive manner since they come from a woman of color.
However, in the court of public opinion that could work against McDonald's USA and the defense lawyer herself. It could be perceived as an optics ploy - and trigger repulsion.
Overall, litigation is a wild card. There's no predicting the full scope of the outcomes.
There is the old joke in the legal sector: The company won the case but wound up backrupt. I would add to that humor: And its brand had been destroyed in the process.
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