Summary: A judge tossed a defamation lawsuit against disgraced media company, Rolling Stone.
On Tuesday, a tarnished Rolling Stone heard good news for them. A judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by three UVA frat brothers, claiming defamation.
Rolling Stone rolled into a pile of trouble when it published a scathing college rape story set at the University of Virginia in 2014. The story claimed administrators failed to help “Jackie,” a student who reported she was gang raped at the Phi Kappa Psi frat house. The story initially spurned public outcry due to its apparent expose of our country’s rape culture, but soon after, other media outlets poked numerous holes in the story. Eventually, it came to light that the piece was false, and Rolling Stone and the article’s writer Sabrina Rubin Erdely was forced to retract and apologize.
But the damage was done, not only to the school and fraternity but to the administrators portrayed as rape apologists and named. Those falsely accused in the story filed lawsuits, which are still pending. However, Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan said that three former frat members who were not named in the story were not entitled to damages. They were not identified by their names or physical appearances and thus their belief that their reputations were tarnished was based on speculation and not fact.
Frat brothers, George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford and Ross Fowler, filed the lawsuit last year, and they said they suffered from humiliation and emotional distress due to the story, which made it appear that a gang rape was a fraternity ritual.
The frat brothers’ attorney Alan L. Frank said the young men are considering an appeal.
Do you think the frat brothers should have won their defamation suit? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: ABC News