THE MAGIC OF MEDIATION.

• Author: Herman, Gregg

Byline: GREGG HERMAN

Are there more beautiful words in the practice of law than a judge saying: "The parties have resolved their case?"

Those are the words spoken by Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis in announcing that Fox News had agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company's lawsuit.

Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion alleging that the news outlet had damaged the company's reputation by making phony conspiracy theories that claimed its equipment switched votes from former President Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

The trial involved huge risks for both sides. For Dominion, of course, the largest risk was getting nothing if a jury verdict was adverse. Even with a favorable verdict, it would probably be years before it saw any money as the case would undoubtably have been tied up in appeals forever. In the interim, the business would have been deprived of use of the funds which they undoubtably can very much use.

On the other hand, Fox's risks included the possibility of paying ungodly amounts of money (as if $800 million is not ungodly enough), more horrible publicity and the inevitable attorney fees.

Given these risks, it was a perfect case for mediation and the two sides reached out to mediator Jerry Roscoe, whom, I am proud to say, is associated with JAMS which I joined last year. Despite being on a Danube cruise with his wife someplace between Budapest and Bucharest, he agreed to take the case. He reportedly spent most of a day reading through the evidence, then engaged in...