The voice on the other end of the line asked him if he could mediate a defamation suit filed by Dominion Vote Systems vs. Fox News. The trial was scheduled to begin in a few hours, and the Dominion planned for Rupert Murdoch and Tucker Carlson to take the stand immediately after the testimony, according to people familiar with the matter.

“I said yes,” Roscoe told CNN, recalling the advice his father gave him at 16 about accepting job offers in the middle of a vacation. “My father told me that if someone needs you, they call you, and if they need you, you go.”

The lead lawyers, Dominion’s Justin Nelson and Fox’s Dan Webb, discussed the settlement over the weekend but could not find common ground.

The next day, Roscoe went through thousands of pages of documents. He then began meetings with representatives from both sides.

Late Sunday night, a Delaware Supreme Court judge was informed that the parties had hired Roscoe to mediate. The judge soon announced a one-day postponement of the start of the trial to give the middleman a chance to make a deal.

Anxious negotiations began on Monday.

In the tumultuous 24 hours that followed, negotiations culminated in a historic deal that was reached on Tuesday shortly after 2:00 pm. Greek time preventing high-profile litigation.

In addition to Roscoe, CNN spoke to others with direct knowledge of the events that led to the $787.5 million settlement.

Last week, Dominion notified Fox News that one of the first witnesses would be Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old chairman of Fox Corporation, followed by the most famous broadcaster Tucker Carlson.

After jurors were sworn in on Tuesday morning, everything indicated that the trial would go according to plan. Dominion lawyer Stephen Shackleford was spotted eating at a Subway restaurant before the shopping began. The jury members also ate the first and only dish provided by the court. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Roscoe was finalizing a deal that ultimately averted a six-week lawsuit.

After the deal was finalized at 2:00 pm, lawyers quickly drafted the paperwork, which was signed just before Judge Davis entered the courtroom just before 4:00 pm, people familiar with the matter said.

The agreement was not easily reached. Roscoe, a world-famous mediator who even settled wartime disputes in the Balkans, told CNN it was one of the toughest tasks he has ever faced.

Judge Davis then announced that a settlement had been reached, to surprise onlookers and whispers from reporters in the courtroom. Then he dismissed the jury – and the case was closed.