Oregon Sues Fox News Over Retirement Fund Losses
by Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle
September 12, 2023
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is suing Fox Corporation, alleging that false claims about the 2020 election broadcast on Fox News caused losses to the state’s employee retirement funds.
Rosenblum and Treasurer Tobias Read, who oversees state investment accounts, began investigating Fox and preparing for a lawsuit in June. Their suit, filed Tuesday in the Delaware Chancery Court alongside the New York City Pension Funds, alleges that Fox knew its employees were broadcasting political claims without regard for truth and made no good-faith efforts to monitor or mitigate defamation risk, unlike almost every other news organization in the country.
“The board of Fox Corporation took a massive risk in pursuing profits by perpetuating and peddling known falsehoods,” Rosenblum said in a statement. “The directors’ choices exposed themselves and the company to liability and exposed their shareholders to significant risks. That is the crux of our lawsuit, and we look forward to making our case in court.”
Fox had to pay out nearly $800 million to Dominion Voting Systems in an April settlement in a defamation case. Another voting machine company, Smartmatic, has an ongoing lawsuit against Fox and is seeking $2.7 billion in damages.