It Ain't Necessarily So

Absolutely correct. The court would only postpone the trial if both sides requested it and informed the judge they were making progress in discussing a resolution. https://t.co/l6esRfQ8G5

— George Conway🌻 (@gtconway3d) April 17, 2023

That's a reasonable conjecture. Except this isn't a reasonable case.

The Dominion lawsuit is not going well for Fox News https://t.co/1DBFwzwuch

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 17, 2023

 Judges do not enjoy being lied to, and the judge was, understandably, livid. He told Fox they had a “credibility problem.” He also sanctioned Fox at a pre-trial last Wednesday, telling them that if Dominion had to do additional depositions of Fox personnel or redo any previous depositions, Fox would have to foot the bill. 

That might seem like nothing more than a slap on the wrist, but it’s a pretty big deal. Both sides have enormous teams of high-powered lawyers, and Fox now has to cover the cost of Dominion’s for any additional discovery. It’s impossible to say precisely what kind of money that means, but just as a benchmark: Partners at big fancy law firms currently bill as much as $2,000 per hour while associates come in around $500 an hour or so. Fox is looking at paying Dominion several thousand dollars for every hour needed for additional depositions and fact-finding — and that doesn’t include Fox needing to pay their own attorneys to attend.

I wondered, after reading Conway's tweet, if a settlement discussion wasn't in the planning.  But it's just as likely Dominion expressed some interest in new depositions, and asked for a day's delay while they considered the matter.

Change the facts, change the outcome.  Or the speculative outcome.  Or the reason for the speculation.  This would be an unusual reason for 24 hours delay.  But then, the sanctions order is a reaction to an unusual situation, too.