How did Dominion justify the 1.6 billion value they're suing Fox News for?

Question

Dominion is suing for 1.6 billion in their defamation case against Fox News. Google tells me they make an annual income of less then 100 million and their entire company is only valued at 80 million. To be frank, regardless of whether or not Fox is found liable of defamation it seems hard to believe that the alleged defamation from Fox News alone resulted in losses equal to twenty times Dominion's current net worth.

So I'm wondering if the filing specifies how Dominion came up with such a high number, and what their legal justification for it is. Do these sorts of lawsuit just always toss out some value known to be exaggerated expecting it to be lowered by the court even if they win, or - presuming they did win their lawsuit - would Dominion have reasonable expectation of being awarded the full 1.6 billion claim?

Answer 1

The complaint is available online. In fact, it asks for more than 1.6 billion, because it doesn't suggest any amounts for certain categories. The amounts that are specified include things such as the cost of providing security in the wake of death threats they received. Starting on page 136, they ask for

1. General compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial,

2. Damages of not less than $600,000,000 for lost profits, not less than $1,000,000,000 for lost enterprise value, not less than $600,000 for security expenses, and not less than $700,000 for expenses to fight the disinformation campaign waged against them,

3. Punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial,

4. Pre- and post-judgment interest, and

5. Expenses and attorneys' fees.

Justification for the amounts in the second item is found in the complaint.