WILMINGTON, Del. — The judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News has formally appointed a special master to investigate how the media company handled court-ordered discovery.
In a filing Tuesday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said he tapped Delaware litigator John Elzufon to look into whether Fox had complied with its discovery obligations.
Jurors in the trial were seated Tuesday morning, but opening statements had yet to begin as of midafternoon.
The special master appointment came nearly a week after Davis sanctioned Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., for not turning over evidence in a timely fashion. The judge said at the time that he was considering a launching an investigation and censuring the company.
Elzufon can request depositions with whomever he wishes, and the associated costs must be paid by Fox. The special master must provide a written report about his investigation no later than 4 p.m. ET on May 15, according to Tuesday’s four-page filing.
The evidence withheld by Fox includes audio recordings turned over by Abby Grossberg, a former Fox News producer who is suing the network, alleging in part that she was harassed.
In one of the recordings from November 2020, Rudy Giuliani can be heard talking with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. She asks him for evidence of fraud by Dominion, and he replies “that’s a little harder to tell you — it’s being analyzed right now.”
Giuliani also says he “can’t prove” that Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the House, had an interest in Dominion.
In a second clip, from December 2020, a Trump official can be heard telling Fox News “there weren’t any physical issues with the [voting] machines” during inspections.
Dominion, a privately held company that makes voting equipment, is suing Fox for airing false allegations of voter fraud after former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
The voting machine company is seeking $1.6 billion in damages.
Davis has already agreed with Dominion that the election fraud claims are bogus. The voting machine company must now try to convince the jury of 12 people in Wilmington that Fox, in airing the conspiracies, acted with “actual malice” — meaning that the company knowingly aired something false or behaved with “reckless disregard” for the truth.
Fox News has insisted that the case is about the “First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute right to cover the news.”
Julia Jester and Jane C. Timm reported from Wilmington, and Daniel Arkin from New York.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
