Jurors award $3M in defamation suit against Rolling Stone
Federal jurors on Monday awarded $3 million in damages to a former University of Virginia administrator who claimed she was defamed by a Rolling Stone article about a gang rape that was later retracted.
Jurors in Charlottesville, Virginia, found that reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely was liable for $2 million and that Rolling Stone and its parent company were liable for $1 million, report the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Jurors awarded the money to former administrator Nicole Eramo, who claimed she was wrongly portrayed as unresponsive to the rape claim in the article. Eramo had sought $7.5 million.
Eramo testified on Monday that, after the article was published, she lost her title as associate dean and was no longer allowed to counsel students on sexual violence matters. She said she received hundreds of hateful messages and she lost-self-confidence.
A Rolling Stone lawyer said the magazine’s agreement with Erdely obligated it to cover all liability related to the article, according to the Times.
