As the defamation lawsuit between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems approached, both sides agreed a settlement would be in their best interests. Jerry Roscoe, a renowned mediator, was brought in to help bring the sides to a deal, and he now says it wasn’t an easy feat to accomplish.
In an interview with CNN‘s Oliver Darcy, Roscoe said he was on a river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest to celebrate his 70th birthday when he received the call asking if he would mediate between the two sides.
Roscoe detailed the exchanges between the cable channel and election machine company. He shared the difficulty of making each entity feel comfortable about a settlement.
“It was one of the more challenging cases because of the magnitude of the dispute and the visibility,” said Roscoe. “I would not characterize any aspect of this mediation as easy.”
The statement from Roscoe is all that more eye-opening when considering he has negotiated war-time agreements between sparring nations and factions, including between Croats and Muslim coalitions in Bosnia. He claimed that settlements become slightly easier once everyone is in the actual courtroom.
“Once the jury sits down and you’re looking at people who are going to decide your fate, it’s an awakening experience,” concluded Roscoe.
Ultimately, a $787.5 million settlement was struck between the two sides.
