CNN –
New York City pension funds and the state of Oregon took legal action against Fox Corporation on Tuesday, alleging in a lawsuit that Fox News’ parent company failed its shareholders by allowing the right-wing network to recklessly lie about the 2020 elections that would have opened him up to two historic defamation cases.
The lawsuit, filed under seal in the Delaware Court of Chancery and naming Fox Corporation board members and executives as defendants, accused the media company of choosing to “file robust defamation suits that could potentially impose enormous financial liability and… may have greater business impact.” , rather than disappoint Fox News viewers,” an excerpt from the state of Oregon’s complaint reads.
The suit represents the most serious shareholder action brought against Fox since the company settled a historic defamation lawsuit brought by election technology company Dominion Voting Systems earlier this year for a record $787.5 million. Fox, which claims to be proud of its dishonest election coverage in 2020, still faces an even larger $2.7 billion lawsuit from voting technology company Smartmatic.
“Fox’s board has blatantly disregarded the need for journalistic standards and failed to take protective measures, even though its business model invites defamation lawsuits,” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said in a statement Tuesday. “A lack of journalistic standards and an appropriate defamation mitigation strategy has clearly damaged Fox’s reputation and threatens its bottom line and long-term viability.”
“Fox Corporation’s board of directors took enormous risks in pursuit of profits by perpetuating and spreading known falsehoods,” Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a separate statement. “The directors’ decisions exposed themselves and the company to liability and exposed their shareholders to significant risk. This is the crux of our lawsuit and we look forward to arguing our case in court.”
A spokesman for Fox Corporation declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit did not specify the amount of damages. A spokesman for the New York City Comptroller’s office said the pension funds held 857,000 shares of Fox Corporation stock valued at $28.10 million. Oregon State held 226,315 Fox shares worth $5.2 million.
Legal and corporate governance experts have long warned that Fox Corporation would face shareholder lawsuits over irresponsible management decisions that left the company vulnerable to legal action.
Fox Corporation, led by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, has retained Fox News’ current leadership team, which oversaw the network’s lie-filled coverage in 2020. But last month the company suddenly announced that Viet Dinh, its chief legal officer who oversaw the company’s legal strategy to fight the election lawsuits, would be leaving his position at the end of the year.
In addition to the two lawsuits from Dominion and Smartmatic, Fox News has also faced a cascade of defamation lawsuits from others taking action against the network.
Ray Epps, an Arizona man who conspiracy theorists falsely claim orchestrated an FBI plot to orchestrate the Jan. 6 insurrection, filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News in July.
Earlier this year, Fox News settled a defamation case with a Venezuelan businessman who filed a lawsuit against the company over its coverage of the 2020 election. And Fox settled for $12 million a lawsuit filed by former producer Abby Grossberg, who accused the network of fostering a toxic work environment.