Rolling Stone defamed U.Va. administrator in rape story, jury finds

A federal jury found Friday that Rolling Stone magazine defamed a University of Virginia administrator by running a story about a gang rape on the Charlottesville campus that was ultimately discredited.

Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the author of the piece, was found responsible by the 10-member jury for libel with actual malice. The magazine and its publisher were also found responsible for defaming Nicole Eramo, who oversaw cases of sexual assault at the university at time of the article’s publication in November of 2014.

The 9,000-word article, titled “A Rape on Campus,” recounted in harrowing detail the gang rape of “Jackie,” a University of Virginia student who alleged she was assaulted by multiple members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity as part of an initiation ritual in 2012.

Rolling Stone waited until April to retract the piece, despite the fact that key details, including the name and description of one of the alleged attackers, immediately failed to hold up under scrutiny.

“In our desire to present this complicated issue from the perspective of a survivor, we overlooked reporting paths and made journalistic mistakes that we are committed to never making again,” Rolling Stone said in a statement after the ruling. “We deeply regret these missteps and sincerely apologize to anyone hurt by them, including Ms. Eramo.

“It is our deep hope that our failings do not deflect from the pervasive issues discussed in the piece, and that reporting on sexual assault cases ultimately results in campus policies that better protect our students,” the magazine continued. “We will continue to publish stories that shine a light on the defining social, political and cultural issues of our times, and we will continue to seek the truth in every story we publish.”

Lawyers for Ms. Eramo argued she was intentionally portrayed as the villain of the story. They said Ms. Erdely had a preconceived notion of the ways in which campus administrators respond to allegations of sexual assault and cherry-picked facts in order to fit her narrative.

“Once they decided what the story was going to be about, it didn’t matter what the facts were,” Tom Clare, one of the Ms. Eramo’s lawyers, said in closing arguments Tuesday.

Both Ms. Eramo and Ms. Erdely took the stand in the trial, which began Oct. 17.

The former dean has requested $7.5 million in damages. Arguments over that sum are set to begin Monday, at which point Ms. Eramo can ask for a different amount.