The Dominion Voting Systems defamation trial against Fox News was delayed by the court late on Sunday and is now scheduled to begin Tuesday, NBC News reported.
It was not immediately clear why the court ordered the one-day delay. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis is expected to make an announcement on the change on Monday morning, according to a statement from the court.
Dominion filed the lawsuit in March of 2021, suing the network for $1.6 billion and claiming Fox defamed it by repeatedly airing false claims about the company”s machines and its accompanying software.
Court records and testimony revealed that many Fox hosts and executives didn”t believe the claims but continued to air them regardless.
The delay in the trial comes after a contentious week of pretrial hearings, in which Davis sanctioned Fox News for withholding evidence and admonished the organization for not being straightforward about Rupert Murdoch’s role at Fox News. The judge ruled Dominion could do an additional deposition if needed, at Fox’s cost.

On Friday, Davis ruled that Dominion would not be permitted to bring up the January 6 Capitol riots during the defamation trial, noting that almost all of the allegedly defamatory statements mentioned in Dominion”s lawsuit occurred before the riots.
The rest of jury selection and opening arguments are now scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, the court said.