Rolling Stone Faces Revived Lawsuit Over Campus Rape Article
- 7 years ago
Rolling Stone Faces Revived Lawsuit Over Campus Rape Article
On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled
that a lower court had erred in dismissing a defamation lawsuit filed by three former members of the fraternity at the center of the 2014 article.
But in their decision, a panel of appellate judges wrote
that “while it is a close call,” the district judge was incorrect when it came to two of the men, Mr. Elias and Mr. Fowler, and sent the case back to the district court for further proceedings.
While none of the men were named in the article, details like the setting of the rape in a room at the top of a staircase
and the description of one man as an avid swimmer could have led a reader familiar with the fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, to identify those men, according to the lawsuit.
In the earlier decision, a judge ruled that the three men — George Elias IV, Ross Fowler and Stephen Hadford — had not shown
that the article was “of and concerning” them personally, apart from the fraternity.
The case by the three former fraternity members, filed in 2015, was one of three defamation suits
filed against Rolling Stone in the aftermath of the article’s publication in November 2014.
Just days after announcing that it was for sale, Rolling Stone learned
that it still faces litigation over its retracted article about a purported gang rape at the University of Virginia, news that may complicate the magazine’s efforts to find a buyer.
On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled
that a lower court had erred in dismissing a defamation lawsuit filed by three former members of the fraternity at the center of the 2014 article.
But in their decision, a panel of appellate judges wrote
that “while it is a close call,” the district judge was incorrect when it came to two of the men, Mr. Elias and Mr. Fowler, and sent the case back to the district court for further proceedings.
While none of the men were named in the article, details like the setting of the rape in a room at the top of a staircase
and the description of one man as an avid swimmer could have led a reader familiar with the fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, to identify those men, according to the lawsuit.
In the earlier decision, a judge ruled that the three men — George Elias IV, Ross Fowler and Stephen Hadford — had not shown
that the article was “of and concerning” them personally, apart from the fraternity.
The case by the three former fraternity members, filed in 2015, was one of three defamation suits
filed against Rolling Stone in the aftermath of the article’s publication in November 2014.
Just days after announcing that it was for sale, Rolling Stone learned
that it still faces litigation over its retracted article about a purported gang rape at the University of Virginia, news that may complicate the magazine’s efforts to find a buyer.