Court reinstates lawsuit over debunked Rolling Stone story

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press via Lynchburg News & Advance

Court reinstates lawsuit over debunked Rolling Stone story

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press 1 hr

NEW YORK (AP) — A defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone over the magazine's debunked article about a University of Virginia gang rape was reinstated Tuesday by an appeals court in a manner that one judge says would allow any member of a school fraternity to join the lawsuit.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said three former students can sue, in part because the November 2014 article could enable a reader to conclude that many or all members of a fraternity participated in gang rapes as an initiation ritual and that all members knowingly ignored the brutal crimes.

An investigation by Charlottesville, Virginia, police found no evidence to back up the claims of the woman identified in the article as "Jackie," who told the magazine she had been raped by seven men at a fraternity house in September 2012.

Rolling Stone later retracted the article and apologized. ... A lower-court judge had thrown out the lawsuit by three Phi Kappa Psi members who graduated in 2013. ... In a statement Tuesday, Rolling Stone said it was disappointed by the 2nd Circuit ruling but was "confident that this case has no merit."

Read more: http://www.newsadvance.com/news/state/wire/court-reinstates-lawsuit-over-debunked-rolling-stone-story/article_f2309a5e-dedd-5154-a0d9-6f22ad73739a.html

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LBN-worthy in light of the proposed sale of Rolling Stone.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Just great! Rolling Stone is on the auction block and they pull this shit?!

Sounds political to me (big bucks before the magazine folds perhaps!).

[Jake Stern]

2. Perhaps if Rolling Stone had not published an unchecked, unsubstantiated story

that basically implicated all the fraternity brothers in gang rape they wouldn't have a to feel "disappointed".

Tired of media rushing these salacious stories out, ruining people's reputations and lives then thinking that an " Oops, sorry 'bout that" should be enough.

I hope the frat brothers win if for no other reason to saddle RS with such debt that they are unattractive to buyers. Maybe once they see that tossing basic fact checking and integrity out the window has very real financial consequences, publications will pause before spewing an article that "names names".