Rolling Stone found liable in $7.5 mn defamation lawsuit

A federal jury has found that Rolling Stone magazine and writer Sabrina Erdely defamed a former University of Virginia associate dean in a since-retracted story about campus rape

The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house inside the University of Virginia campus. Pic/AFP

Charlottesville: A federal jury has found that Rolling Stone magazine and writer Sabrina Erdely defamed a former University of Virginia associate dean in a since-retracted story about campus rape.

It took the jury three days of deliberations to decide that Erdely should be liable for defamation, with actual malice, for her 'A Rape on Campus' feature story, New York Post reported on Friday.

Rolling Stone magazine and Wenner Media are also responsible for defaming former UVA associate dean Nicole Eramo, jurors decided.

Eramo sued the three defendants for US$7.5 million, claiming the 9,000-word article, which was published in November 2014, painted her as being indifferent to gang rape allegations made by a student identified only as “Jackie”.

During closing arguments, Eramo’s attorney argued that the campus rape story, which began with Jackie’s horrific account of being gang-raped at a fraternity house, was reported with a “reckless disregard for the truth”.

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