The judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News said on Wednesday that he was imposing a sanction on the network, as new evidence has been uncovered that suggests that Fox either withheld relevant information or did not provide it in a timely manner.
He said he was very concerned that there had been “misrepresentations to the court.”
“This is very serious,” Judge Davis said.
That evidence included recordings of the Fox News host Maria Bartiromo talking with former President Donald J. Trump’s lawyers, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, which Dominion said had been turned over only a week ago.
In imposing sanction on Fox, Judge Eric M. Davis of the Delaware Superior Court ruled that if Dominion had to do additional depositions or redo any already done that “Fox will do everything they can to make the person available, and it will be at a cost to Fox.”
He also said he would very likely appoint a special master to investigate Fox’s handling of discovery of documents and the question of whether Fox had inappropriately withheld details about Rupert Murdoch’s role as a corporate officer of Fox News.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, with jury selection starting on Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear that Dominion would avail itself of the judge’s ruling that its lawyers could conduct additional depositions.
The judge told Fox’s lawyers to retain all internal communications between themselves relating to the officer issue from the time of March 20. He said he would weigh whether any additional sanctions should be put on Fox.
Davida Brook, a lawyer for Dominion, told the court that they were still receiving relevant documents from Fox, with the trial just days away.
