Fox Election Lies Shareholder Suit to Be Led by NYC Pension Fund

Sprawling litigation against Fox News’ directors for decisions that led to a $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems Inc. will be helmed by a legal team for the pension funds of New York City and Oregon public workers, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled Friday.

That coalition with their lawfirms—including litigation boutique Friedlander & Gorris PA, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP—edged out a competing group of pension and investment funds represented by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP, Labaton Sucharow LLP, and Friedman Oster & Tejtel PLLC.

“Only one team of lawyers remained consistent throughout the process: the Friedlander firm, Cohen Milstein, and Lieff Cabraser,” Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster said in his opinion. “The other team of lawyers (the ‘BLBG Team’) appears to have evolved on the fly.”

The decision could mean a huge payday for the winning lawyers if they can prevail in their claims that Fox leadership should be liable for the massive payout against Dominion as Fox sought to back former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Another payout could also be coming down the pike, as larger voting system manufacturer Smartmatic pursues its $2.7 billion suit against the broadcaster.

Laster said the Friedlander team’s formation was “intentional, client-initiated, and client-driven.” While there weren’t clear differences in the competence of the teams or the resources available to the firms, Laster said the Friendlander team had a stronger complaint and a clearer leadership structure.

The Friedlander team also had better proposed lead plaintiffs due to the expertise of the New York City and Oregon pension funds’ leadership. Antagonistic statements made by the funds’ leaders against Fox dosn’t overcome that advantage and won’t be a distraction due to the high-profile nature of the case, Laster said.

“The case involves one of the major American news networks, one of the world’s largest media companies, and one of the world’s richest families,” he said. “In a case where media scrutiny is inevitable, having lead plaintiffs who are public figures and who have experience with the media is a benefit, not a detriment.”

The case is In re Fox Corp. Derivative Litig., Del. Ch., No. 2023-0418-JTL, 12/29/23.