Superior Court Judge Eric Davis proposed a September 2024 start date for Dominion’s defamation trial against Newsmax, reasoning during a Wednesday morning hearing that anything earlier would force Newsmax attorneys to simultaneously meet deadlines for both Delaware defamation cases underway against the network.

Davis noted that in the last defamation case before the court that involved media coverage of the 2020 election’s legitimacy, the burden of juggling preparation for two trials fell on Dominion, which was initially planning to try its cases against Fox News and its parent Fox Corp. separately, though the two were eventually consolidated. The same Susman Godfrey attorneys who recently landed Dominion a $787.5 million settlement with Fox have taken the lead for Dominion in the Newsmax case.