It has long been assumed that Dominion would sue OAN, just as they have Newsmax and Fox.People believed it was only a matter of time. One might be tempted to think, “Well, they’ll get any money back that they lost from Fox so… ” No, these are intentional torts. These aren’t “just” about getting money back that was lost in future sales/reputation, these are also about getting money to punish the media and letters admitting that they had nothing to go on and largely made the story up. There was never a question these suits were coming against OAN.
One question lingered regarding whether Dominion would just sue the stations or would they name individual reporters. We now have an answer and it has ramifications far beyond OAN. For the first time, Dominion named individual reporters as defendants, Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb, along with former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, seeking more than $1.6 billion in damages.
According to the lawsuit:
“During and after the November 2020 election, OAN saw a business opportunity,” the suit alleges. “Spurred by a quest for profits and viewers, OAN — a competitor to media giant Fox — engaged in a race to the bottom with Fox and other outlets such as Newsmax to spread false and manufactured stories about election fraud. Dominion quickly became the focus of this downward spiral of lies, as each broadcaster attempted to outdo the others by making the lies more outrageous, spreading them further, and endorsing them as strongly as possible.”
That is exactly what happened. But Dominion didn’t name Fox reporters or Newsmax reporters in their original lawsuit. One can amend their lawsuit and add defendants any time one wants so long as it’s reasonable and not so late as to be hurtful, or just file an entirely new separate complaint… we’re not that late yet. Dominion may be in a spot now where they’re comfortable going after the reporters most responsible.
So now the Hannitys, the Tuckers, Judge Jeanines, they all need to worry about whether Dominion now has their litigation strategy as between dividing and conquering companies versus reporters and will soon name Fox reporters. Or, did Dominion just see more freelancing and more independent decisions made by Chanel and Christina? We do not know but neither does Hannity or any of the big names.
Remember, part of this is an attempt to make Dominion “whole” as if the lies were never told and they didn’t face the shaky future, those are the financial damages. We can expect to see more and more suits due to the fact that there is so much blame lying around. Punitive damages do just that, they “punish.”
The reporters really do not want to be named. Corporations can file a softer bankruptcy and move assets around to reorganize and restructure. It will be a little harder for the reporters who may eventually…
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