Dominion focused on allegations made between November 2020 and January 2021 by hosts Maria Bartiromo, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, and Jeanine Pirro.

Guests who often appeared with these hosts included Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, both of whom have also been sued individually by Dominion in federal court.

[a] During pre-trial discovery, Fox News' internal communications were released, indicating that prominent hosts and top executives were aware the network was reporting false statements but continued doing so to retain viewers for financial reasons.

In a summary judgment on March 31, 2023, Delaware Superior Court judge Eric M. Davis ruled that none of the disputed statements Fox News made about Dominion were true and ordered a trial to determine if the network had acted with actual malice.

"[2] Days later, each of the three programs aired the same three-minute video segment consisting of an interview with an election technology expert who refuted the allegations promoted by the hosts, responding to questions from an unseen and unidentified man.

[3] In an April 2021 court brief seeking dismissal of the suit, Fox attorney Paul Clement argued that the network was simply "reporting allegations made by a sitting President and his lawyers.

[5] In December 2020, Dominion sent a similar letter demanding retractions to Trump attorney Sidney Powell,[6][7][8] who had promoted the allegations on Fox programs.

[16] Fox retained Clement & Murphy, DLA Piper, Ellis George Cipollone, Lehotsky Keller, Richards Layton & Finger, and Winston & Strawn.

"[21][22][23] The New York Times, on August 13, 2022, noted that there had been no movement towards settlement from either Dominion or Fox, and both "are deep into document discovery, combing through years of each other's emails and text messages, and taking depositions".

[24] Citing sources at Fox News, speaking under condition of anonymity, they reported "Anchors and executives have been preparing for depositions and have been forced to hand over months of private emails and text messages to Dominion.

[24] Sources also told the Times that Dominion was focusing on Lachlan Murdoch's reaction to President Trump's anger at the network calling Arizona for Biden, seeking to place him "in the room when the decisions about election coverage were being made".

[25] In early December 2022, the Delaware Superior Court filed notice that Lachlan Murdoch would be deposed under oath at a Los Angeles law firm.

[25] On February 16, 2023, Dominion Voting Systems filed a motion for summary judgment against Fox News, with dozens of internal communications sent during the months after the 2020 presidential election.

The communications showed their concerns that if they did not continue to report these falsehoods, viewers would be alienated and switch to rival conservative networks like Newsmax and OANN, impacting corporate profitability.

[29][30][31] Internal texts and other products of discovery against Fox revealed that Tucker Carlson privately doubted the false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and mocked Trump advisors, including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

Less than three weeks after the 2020 presidential election, Carlson also publicly cast doubt on Powell's claims pointing out on his show that she never provided his producers or Trump campaign officials with any evidence to support her allegations against Dominion.

"[33] Carlson texted to Sean Hannity, saying Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich should be fired for tweeting a fact-check of false claims Trump made about Dominion.

[33][34][35][36][37] In early 2023, Rupert Murdoch acknowledged in a deposition that some Fox News personalities were endorsing election fraud claims they knew were false.

[40][41] On March 31, 2023, Delaware Superior Court judge Eric Davis ruled in a summary judgment that it "is crystal clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true" and ordered the case to trial on April 17 to determine if the network had acted with actual malice.

[46] He further ruled that no testimony during the trial should mention the January 6 attack, calling it "a really big issue that has to be stayed away from" and noting that only one of the broadcasts in question had occurred after that date.

[47] However, Davis said witnesses could be asked about strategic decisions made after the attack; he noted an email in which Rupert Murdoch said Fox was "pivoting as far as possible" after January 6.

On April 16, the night before the trial was scheduled to begin, Judge Davis announced a one-day delay, without any further details,[53] reportedly having asked the parties to try to settle.

[63] Elon University School of Law professor Enrique Armijo said that it is "so rare to have such contemporaneous evidence of a defamation defendant's state of mind when the statements are being made".