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☆ Dominion can force Murdochs to testify at Fox News defamation trial, judge says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Washington, DC CNN —Dominion Voting Systems can force Fox Corporation executives Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch to testify on the witness stand at this month’s scheduled defamation trial, a Delaware judge said Wednesday. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said at a hearing that if Dominion subpoenas the Murdochs to testify in person, he would not quash those subpoenas, and the Murdochs would need to show up. “They are relevant to the case… if Dominion wants to bring them live, they need to issue a trial subpoena, and I would not quash it,” Davis said. He added that “it would be my discretion that they come” to testify in-person at the trial, which is scheduled to begin later this month in Wilmington, Delaware. Fox News denies wrongdoing and says the case is a meritless assault against the First Amendment.

REUTERS/Andrew KellyApril 3 (Reuters) - A Delaware judge on Monday dismissed Merck & Co's (MRK.N) lawsuit seeking to hold Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) responsible for more talc-related liabilities stemming from its $14.2 billion purchase of Merck's consumer care business in 2014. Bayer welcomed the decision, saying that it expected Merck to "take full responsibility for the product claims". "Bayer will continue to defend itself against any further efforts by Merck to avoid or improperly transfer its liabilities to Bayer," the company said in a statement. The $14.2 billion purchase also included Merck's Claritin allergy medicine and Coppertone sunscreen lines. The case is Merck & Co v. Bayer AG, Delaware Chancery Court, No.

CNN —Fox News said in a court filing Tuesday that it plans to put some of its most prominent executives and TV hosts on the witness stand to testify as part of its defense in the Dominion defamation trial. Fox will call these witnesses as part of their defense, but Dominion also wants to question them as part of their case. The list includes Fox TV hosts Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo, Sean Hannity, and Bret Baier, as well as Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace. Last week, a Delaware judge ruled that Dominion Voting Systems’ case against Fox News will go to jury trial in mid-April. Both Fox News and Dominion had previously asked the judge to declare them the outright winner without a trial.

☆ Jury to decide if Fox liable for defaming Dominion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Reuters Editorial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PoliticsJury to decide if Fox liable for defaming DominionPostedA jury will decide whether Fox Corp defamed Dominion Voting Systems with false vote-rigging claims aired by Fox News after the 2020 U.S. election, a Delaware judge ruled on Friday, dealing a setback to the media company that had sought to avoid a trial in the $1.6 billion lawsuit. This report was produced by Jillian Kitchener.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis denied motions from Fox and partially granted Dominion motions to resolve the issue of defamation liability ahead of the scheduled April 17 trial date. The ruling puts the high-profile case in the hands of a jury that will determine whether Fox acted with actual malice and whether Dominion suffered any damages. The judge ruled in Dominion's favor on some elements of defamation including that the allegedly defamatory statements by Fox concerned Dominion, that the statements had been published by Fox and were false. Davis, however, said in his ruling the doctrine would not shield Fox from liability, because the network did not conduct disinterested reporting. Fox faces a similar lawsuit by voting-technology company Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from Fox Corp, the cable network, Fox hosts and guests.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis denied motions from Fox and partially granted Dominion motions to resolve the issue of defamation liability in each side's favor - summary judgment - ahead of the scheduled April 17 trial date. A jury will determine whether Fox acted with actual malice and whether Dominion suffered any damages, according to the ruling. The judge ruled in Dominion's favor on some elements of defamation including that the allegedly defamatory statements by Fox concerned Dominion, that the statements had been published by Fox and were false. Fox faces a similar lawsuit by voting-technology company Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from Fox Corp, the cable network, Fox hosts and guests. Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delawared; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fox News Defamation Case Cleared for Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Erin Mulvaney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fox News argues it had the right to cover newsworthy fraud allegations against a voting-machine company during the 2020 election. A Delaware judge ruled Friday that a jury should decide the fate of a defamation case against Fox News for airing unsupported claims that a voting-machine company was involved in election fraud during the 2020 presidential election. Superior Court Judge Eric Davis rejected Fox News’s arguments that it should be declared the victor before trial because its conduct was protected by the First Amendment. The judge said the plaintiff, Dominion Voting Systems, had established that the network in fact aired false statements that the company helped rig the election for Joe Biden.

☆ A judge just delivered a crushing blow to Fox News in Dominion's defamation lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Delaware judge handed Dominion a major victory in its defamation lawsuit against Fox News. In the same ruling, Davis denied all the claims from Fox News and Fox Corporation, which argued that Dominion failed to prove they should be held liable for the falsehoods. Dominion filed its lawsuit against Fox News, parent company Fox Corporation, and an array of individual hosts in March 2021, asking for $1.6 billion in damages. Dominion alleges that Fox News's hosts should have never had them on in the first place, and either endorsed or didn't sufficiently push back against their false claims. Allies like Rupert Murdoch and Sean Hannity indicated they were "disgusted" by Trump's claims of election rigging, filings show.

New York CNN —Dominion Voting Systems’ historic defamation case against Fox News will proceed to a high-stakes jury trial next month, a Delaware judge ruled Friday, declining to declare a pretrial winner. But in his Friday ruling, Davis said that the evidence Dominion presented shows Fox News aired falsehoods about the company. “The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” Davis wrote. The on-air statements, from various Fox News hosts after the 2020 election, had accused Dominion of rigging the election by flipping millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Incriminating texts and emails have shown how Fox executives, hosts and producers didn’t believe the claims the network was peddling about Dominion.

☆ Judge rejects Fox motions, allows Dominion's $1.6 billion defamation suit to go to trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

A Delaware judge on Friday said Dominion Voting's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp. and its networks could go to trial in April. Judge Eric Davis of Delaware's Superior Court rejected Fox's arguments that it should bypass a trial since it's protected by the First Amendment. We look forward to going to trial," Dominion said late Friday afternoon. The former president, who was indicted Thursday in an unrelated criminal matter, has repeatedly made false claims about the election being rigged against him. The depositions of both Murdochs, as well as other Fox Corp. executives, are to be included in the trial, too.

☆ Dominion’s historic defamation case against Fox News will go to trial, judge rules, in major decision dismantling key Fox defenses
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Marshall Cohen Oliver Darcy | Marshall Cohen | Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —Dominion Voting Systems’ historic defamation case against Fox News will proceed to a high-stakes jury trial in mid-April, a Delaware judge ruled Friday, in a major decision that dismantled several of the right-wing network’s key defenses. Both sides had asked Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis for a pretrial ruling in their favor, declaring them the winner. After thousands of pages of filings and exhibits, and a series of courtroom clashes, Davis decided the case should go to trial. Incriminating texts and emails have shown how Fox executives, hosts and producers didn’t believe the claims the network was peddling about Dominion. Despite what appeared on air, Fox News executives and hosts privately criticized the Trump camp for pushing claims of election fraud.

☆ Fox, Dominion urge judge to rule in $1.6 billion defamation suit ahead of April trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

However, Fox and Dominion didn't close up their arguments on Tuesday and will meet in court Wednesday morning. (Trump's false claims of election fraud are at the center of multiple criminal probes.) Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some anchors parroted false fraud claims in the months following the election. Fox has consistently denied the claims it knowingly made false claims, and has argued it is protected by the First Amendment. These cases are often settled out of court or quickly dismissed by a court judge, but neither said has had such discussions, CNBC previously reported.

☆ Fox bosses ‘shut down’ fact checking with 2020 conspiracies, Dominion lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Dominion is suing Fox News over the right-wing channel’s airing of false claims of election fraud around the 2020 presidential election. Fox News argued that Dominion should instead rely on the “lengthy depositions” that these witnesses already gave. It claims Dominion hasn’t shown anything strong enough to overcome the high bar that the First Amendment provides, protecting good-faith journalists from speech-chilling defamation lawsuits. Dominion lawyer Rodney Smolla said its high-stakes defamation case against Fox News will protect the public discourse and hold accountable people who deliberately lied about the 2020 election. “They endorsed,” Murdoch said, referring to Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs.

☆ Rupert Murdoch suggested Fox News hosts 'went too far' with election fraud claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Murdoch said in an email to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott on Jan. 21, 2021, in an apparent reference to Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. Dominion has argued in its suit that Fox and its ring-wing cable TV channels and talent falsely claimed that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election. The company points to Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch's testimony about being "kept awake at night" regarding ratings and competition following the 2020 election. Trump has repeatedly spread false claims that the 2020 election between him and now-President Joe Biden was rigged. Before then, Dominion and Fox will meet again in Delaware court on March 21 regarding their motions for summary judgement.

☆ Movie theatre operator AMC's stock surged 23% after a potential legal delay to a plan that could dilute its shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AMC stock surged 23% on Monday after a judge scheduled a hearing for shareholders suing the company. The stock became popular in 2021 as a meme stock on Reddit. Investors of the movie theatre chain are scheduled to vote on a conversion of the preferred shares to common shares on March 14 — which will increase the pool of common stock and thus dilute the voting power of common shareholders. This boosted market sentiment and sent AMC common shares soaring. Insider's Phil Rosen reported on Thursday that the rally is like the meme stock boom of 2021.

☆ Rupert Murdoch says some Fox News anchors 'endorsed' false election fraud claims in Dominion case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some anchors of the company's TV networks parroted false fraud claims in the months following the 2020 election, according to new court papers out Monday. In new filings as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its networks, Murdoch said he doubted the election fraud claims being aired on Fox News and Fox Business Network. Murdoch also acknowledged that Fox's TV hosts endorsed the false election fraud claims. In unveiled question and answers from Murdoch's deposition, when Murdoch was asked if he was "now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election," Murdoch responded, "Not Fox, no. Dominion sued Fox and its right-wing cable networks, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing the networks and its personalities made false claims that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election.

☆ Elon Musk's lawyers are making closing arguments in a trial over his $56 billion pay package that could be decided as soon as today
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A judge will hear the closing arguments in a trial over Elon Musk's $56 billion pay plan on Tuesday. A Tesla shareholder has sued Musk and the automaker with the goal of getting the pay plan rescinded. Lawyers for Musk and Tesla investor Richard Tornetta will begin presenting their final arguments on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Tornetta aims to get the pay package rescinded. The result of the trial could impact not only Musk's pay package, but his other companies as well, Anat Alon-Beck, assistant professor of law at Case Western Reserve University, previously told Insider.

☆ Fox News hosts, Rupert Murdoch were skeptical of Trump election fraud claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rupert Murdoch and Fox News hosts expressed disbelief in former President Donald Trump's false election fraud claims, according to evidence released from Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp and its cable-TV networks. In court papers filed Thursday, text messages and testimony from depositions show that Fox executives and TV personalities were skeptical about claims that the election between the victorious Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, was rigged. And damaging," Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch said in an email on Nov. 19, days after the election, regarding claims Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was making on Fox News. "Sydney Powell is lying," Tucker Carlson said in a text message to his producer. Our viewers are good people and they believe it," Carlson responded, according to court papers.

☆ Dominion Voting attorney calls out Fox for missing evidence in defamation lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

While this issue was already raised in July and January, the Dominion attorney said Wednesday they are still missing documents. We pointed out categories of missing documents for both Fox News and Fox Corp that are still missing. Fox attorney Dan Webb, a veteran trial attorney added to Fox's roster last year, said he disagreed with much of what Nelson said during the hearing Wednesday. Dominion brought the defamation lawsuit against Fox and its right-wing cable news networks, Fox News and Fox Business, seeking $1.6 billion in damages. "We are put in this impossible situation of preparing for trial where there are missing documents," Nelson said.

☆ Walgreens is buying Medly's patient data as the pharmacy startup winds down after declaring bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Two months after the pharmacy startup Medly declared bankruptcy, Walgreens is buying up its core business. The startup wanted to sell off the leases for its remaining stores, as well as other assets, Medly's lawyer said during the Tuesday hearing. But Walgreens didn't bid on those assets during Medly's February bankruptcy auction, leaving Medly in control of its remaining stores. The bankruptcy filings revealed that CVS also placed a bid for Medly's pharmacy scripts and other assets. The sale of its pharmacy assets to a major drugstore chain shows just how hard it is to innovate in the pharmacy industry.

☆ McDonald’s Ruling Shifts Oversight Liability Focus to Corporate Officers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

Photo: McDonald’sThe ruling by Vice Chancellor Laster focuses on the claims against Mr. Fairhurst specifically. At the time of his termination, Mr. Fairhurst had been the subject of multiple reports of sexual harassment during his tenure, according to the Delaware ruling. Emerging oversight liabilityThe legal doctrine driving the McDonald’s shareholder lawsuit extends back to a 1996 Delaware Court of Chancery decision. The ultimate impact of Judge Laster’s ruling vis-à-vis McDonald’s shareholders is as of yet unclear. If the judge approves the McDonald’s directors’ motion to dismiss, the claims against Mr. Fairhurst would be moot.

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Drug manufacturers can limit healthcare providers' use of outside pharmacies for dispensing drugs under a federal drug discount program, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The case centers on the federal 340B program, in which drugmakers provide discounts to eligible healthcare providers that serve low-income populations. Drugmakers are required to participate in the 340B program in order to receive funds from government health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca all continued to allow 340B providers without in-house pharmacies to use a single contract pharmacy. HHS ordered them to stop, saying the new policies were not allowed under the 340B program.

WILMINGTON, Del., Jan 25 (Reuters) - Shareholders can sue McDonald Corp's (MCD.N) former global chief people officer for the damage they claim he caused to the restaurant chain by allegedly allowing a culture of sexual harassment to flourish, according to a groundbreaking legal ruling. An attorney for shareholders declined to comment and McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shareholders are suing Fairhurst on behalf of McDonald's in what is known as a derivative lawsuit. Fairhurst became the global chief people officer soon after Stephen Easterbrook was named chief executive officer. Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rupert Murdoch deposition in Dominion-Fox lawsuit delayed until next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp and co-chairman of 21st Century Fox, arrives at the Sun Valley Resort of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 10, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is now slated to appear for a deposition later in January as part of Dominion Voting's defamation lawsuit against the company and its cable news networks. The deposition is set to occur Thursday and Friday next week, according to court filings. Most recently, his son and Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch faced questioning as part of the lawsuit. The trial is set to begin on April 17, with pre-trial conferences in the days prior, according to court filings.

☆ Elon Musk says there is no successor if he were to step down as Twitter CEO: 'No one wants the job'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk said there was no successor if he were to step down as Twitter CEO. Twitter has to find a boss who is able to keep the social-media platform "alive," he said. Musk made the comments before the closure of his Twitter poll, which asked users if he should stay. In response to a Twitter user who assumed Musk had already chosen a new leader, the billionaire wrote in a tweet that "no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive." "The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive," Musk tweeted.

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