Similar defamation lawsuits against Fox News by athletes
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Executive summary
Several high-profile defamation suits tied to Fox News have occurred in recent years: Dominion sued Fox and settled for $787.5 million in 2023 [1] [2], Smartmatic is pursuing a $2.7 billion claim that New York appellate judges allowed to proceed in 2025 [3] [4], and multiple other plaintiffs have both filed and lost suits against Fox in lower courts [5]. Available sources do not mention a catalog of similar lawsuits brought specifically by professional athletes against Fox News.
1. A pattern of big-dollar corporate suits, not athlete-led cases
The most prominent Fox-related defamation litigation has been brought by voting-technology firms: Dominion’s case culminated in a reported $787.5 million settlement in April 2023 [1] [2], and Smartmatic pressed a separate $2.7 billion complaint that a New York appellate court refused to dismiss in January 2025 [3] [4]. Those cases center on alleged network coverage of 2020 election conspiracy theories rather than sports reporting; none of the provided sources identify a comparable series of defamation lawsuits against Fox filed by athletes (not found in current reporting).
2. Where athlete suits do appear in the docket, outcomes vary and are mixed
The public record in the supplied material shows other individuals suing Fox and sometimes losing—federal courts dismissed several post‑2020 claims, with Fox celebrating “back-to-back decisions” preserving press freedoms, according to a summary of dismissals [5]. That suggests athlete-plaintiffs would face high legal hurdles: U.S. law requires a showing of “actual malice” for public‑figure plaintiffs, a standard cited by Fox in its defense of election-related broadcast claims [6] [7]. The sources do not document athlete suits with outcomes different from these trends (not found in current reporting).
3. Legal standard and strategy that shape who sues and why
Plaintiffs who have pressed major suits against Fox so far have been either corporations claiming economic harm (Dominion, Smartmatic) or public figures alleging reputational injury; Fox has defended by invoking First Amendment protections and arguing hosts genuinely believed disputed claims—an “actual malice” defense central to Smartmatic filings and Fox’s legal briefs [6] [7]. That legal posture explains why many prominent actions target alleged large-scale misinformation with measurable business harm rather than isolated personal slights—an implicit agenda favoring cases with quantifiable damages and documentary records [6] [7].
4. Document troves and internal disclosures matter—how plaintiffs build leverage
Smartmatic’s filings and related reporting emphasize thousands of internal Fox documents and employee statements that plaintiffs use to show what hosts and executives thought and said off-air [7] [8]. Such internal evidence played a decisive role in public perception of the Dominion case and in settlement pressure [1] [2]. Plaintiffs without access to comparable documentary trails—say, an athlete alleging a single defamatory segment—face a steeper uphill battle to reach the evidentiary threshold that pushed the major election‑technology suits forward [8] [7].
5. Settlements, dismissals, and the incentives they create
Fox’s large Dominion settlement ended a marquee trial in 2023 and set a monetary benchmark cited by others—Newsom’s 2025 suit, for example, sought an amount similar to Dominion’s settlement figure [1] [9]. Yet the docket also shows dismissals in other defamation matters, which Fox and legal observers have touted as precedent for First Amendment protections [5]. The mixed outcomes create a dual incentive: plaintiffs with strong documentary claims push for high-dollar suits, while others may face early dismissal—this explains why the biggest, well‑documented suits have been corporate or politically charged cases, not a wave led by athletes [1] [5] [9].
6. Bottom line for athletes considering suits against Fox News
Available sources show no pattern of similar defamation lawsuits brought by athletes against Fox News in the cited reporting; the most consequential Fox litigation has been corporate and election‑related [1] [3] [4]. Athletes would confront the same legal hurdles—especially the “actual malice” standard—and would likely need documentary evidence or demonstrable economic/reputational damage like that relied upon by Dominion and Smartmatic to stand a realistic chance in court [6] [7]. Sources do not provide examples of athlete-led suits that changed the trajectory of Fox litigation (not found in current reporting).