By STEVE SZKOTAK, Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A retracted Rolling Stone magazine article that portrayed the University of Virginia as more concerned about its reputation than a student's alleged gang rape has prompted the first of two expected lawsuits.
Calling the graphic story a "monumental hoax," attorneys for a top U.Va. administrator sued the magazine Tuesday in a legal claim seeking $7.5 million.
As the top administrator dealing with sexual assaults at the Charlottesville school, Nicole Eramo's lawsuit said she was cast as the "chief villain" in the discredited and debunked piece, titled "A Rape on Campus."
The fraternity where Rolling Stone falsely claimed the brutal sexual assault occurred has also given strong signals it plans to sue.
Eramo, associate dean of students at U.Va., came off as indifferent in the lengthy and graphic magazine piece about a student identified only as "Jackie," who claimed she was raped by seven men in a fraternity initiation.
"I am filing this defamation lawsuit to set the record straight — and to hold the magazine and the author of the article accountable for their actions in a way they have refused to do themselves," Eramo said in a statement.
A report published by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism said Rolling Stone failed at virtually every step of the process, from the reporting by Sabrina Rubin Erdely to an editing process that included high-ranking staffers.
The criticism came two weeks after the Charlottesville police department said it had found no evidence to back the claims of Jackie, who said she was raped in September 2012.
No one at Rolling Stone was fired or disciplined as a result of the article. Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana posted an apology on the publication's website and Erdely also apologized in a statement.
The lawsuit was filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court. It also accuses Erdely and Wenner Media of making false and defamatory statements.
Rolling Stone declined comment through a spokeswoman.
An attorney who has represented the fraternity where the alleged rape was said to have occurred, Phi Kappa Psi, did not respond to The Associated Press for comment on a possible legal claim.
In a statement Tuesday, U.Va. said the Rolling Stone piece "damaged the reputation of many innocent individuals and the University of Virginia."
Eramo's lawsuit said the Rolling Stone piece stated that Eramo "intentionally tried to coddle Jackie" to persuade her to be silent about the assault.
"To personify the University's alleged institutional indifference to rape, Erdely and Rolling Stone cast Dean Eramo, who met with and counseled Jackie, as the chief villain of the story," the lawsuit states.
The article roiled the U.Va. community, sparking protests at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house and a wrenching period of soul-searching by the university. For Eramo, the article "had a devastating effect" with critics calling her a "wretched rape apologist" and "evil" in a wave of public correspondence following the publication of the article, the lawsuit said.
"As a woman who has dedicated her life to assisting victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse, Dean Eramo saw herself tarred in the national press as the chief architect of a conspiracy to suppress Jackie's assault in order to protect U.Va.'s reputation," according to the lawsuit.
Experts on libel law said they expected Rolling Stone would ultimately seek to have the case moved to federal court and that Eramo would be deemed a public figure, which establishes a higher legal standard to prove libel.
"Generally speaking, it is thought that these cases are better for the defendants in federal court," said Eugene Volokh, a professor of First Amendment law at UCLA. "It's easier to throw out the case on purely legal grounds before trial, or at least throw out parts of it."
