Dominion judge likely to appoint special master to investigate if Fox withheld evidence

Wilmington, Delaware CNN  — 

The judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems’ massive defamation case against Fox News said Wednesday that he plans to appoint an outside attorney to investigate whether the right-wing network lied to the court to withhold key evidence, after repeatedly expressing exasperation and frustration with Fox’s attorneys.

“I am very concerned… that there have been misrepresentations to the court. This is very serious,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said Wednesday at a pretrial hearing in Wilmington.

The extraordinary move, on the brink of the trial starting next week, is the latest blow to Fox News as it tries to fend off the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit that Dominion filed in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

Davis said he would appoint a so-called “special master” to investigate whether Fox previously made assertions to the court that were “untrue or negligent” when it said Rupert Murdoch was only an officer at Fox Corporation and didn’t have any role in Fox News – and when it said it had fulfilled all its obligations in the discovery process. This distinction about Murdoch may have narrowed what Fox turned over as part of the discovery process – like internal emails, text messages and other material.

“I’m very uncomfortable right now,” Davis said, after dressing down Fox’s lawyers from the bench.

The special master will look into what sanctions might be appropriate against Fox, including potentially instructing jurors in the case that Fox inappropriately blocked Dominion from obtaining key evidence.

The judge ordered Fox to preserve “any and all communications” related to the Murdoch issue.

Fox denies wrongdoing and says it properly disclosed Murdoch’s roles in its public financial filings. Fox attorney Dan Webb said Wednesday that “nobody intentionally withheld information” from Dominion.