UVa grads sue Rolling Stone over rape story

RICHMOND, Va. — Three University of Virginia graduates and members of a fraternity who were portrayed in a debunked account of a gang rape in a retracted Rolling Stone magazine story filed a lawsuit against the publication and the article’s author, court records show.

The three men, George Elias IV, Stephen Hadford and Ross Fowler, filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New York. They are also suing Rolling Stone’s publisher, Wenner Media.

A lawyer for the men said they suffered “vicious and hurtful attacks” because of inaccuracies in the November 2014 article, which was written by journalist Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

Separately, Wenner Media said in a news release that Will Dana, Rolling Stone’s managing editor, will be leaving the magazine next month. The release said that after 19 years at Rolling Stone, Dana “has decided he is ready for a change and a new challenge.”

The release did not mention the University of Virginia article or give any other reason for Dana’s departure.

In the lawsuit, the three 2013 graduates said the article “created a simple and direct way to match the alleged attackers” from the alleged gang rape to them based on details provided in the story.

For instance, Elias’ room at the fraternity house was “the mostly likely scene of the alleged crime” based on the details in the Rolling Stone article.

“Upon release of the article, family friends, acquaintances, co-workers and reporters easily matched (Elias) as one of the alleged attackers and, among other things, interrogated him, humiliated him, and scolded him,” the lawsuit said, adding that Hadford and Fowler “suffered similar attacks.”

In the lawsuit, their lawyer said each of their identities was listed online by anonymous users when the article first came out and each of their “names will forever be associated with the alleged gang rape.”

“These claims had a devastating effect on each of the plaintiffs’ reputations,” their lawyer, Alan L. Frank, wrote in Wednesday’s filing.

The men are suing on three counts, including defamation and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and are asking for at least $75,000 for each count.

Kathryn Brenner, a spokeswoman for Wenner Media, said the magazine declined to comment on the lawsuit. Erdely did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday. A Rolling Stone representative couldn’t immediately be reached late Wednesday for comment on the newspaper’s report about Dana leaving the magazine.