Rolling Stone settled a lawsuit brought by a University of Virginia dean who claimed the magazine defamed her in a story about alleged rape at a fraternity house. The magazine retracted the story after learning it was rife with falsehoods. A federal jury awarded Nicole Eramo $3 million in damages. Rolling Stone appealed and then came to the current confidential agreement with Eramo. (The Washington Post, April 11, 2017, by T. Rees Shapiro and Emma Brown)
The jury in the Eramo trial concluded that the Rolling Stone was not liable for the original story and had not acted with actual malice but in republishing the story to correct the record, it had committed defamation. Rolling Stone felt it had substantial grounds for an appeal. (The Hollywood Reporter, April 11, 2017, by Eriq Gardner)
A suit by two university fraternity members was dismissed by a judge last year when the judge determined that the members were not named in the article. But the fraternity itself has a $25 million lawsuit in the works with a trial date in October. (Fox News, April 12, 2017, by the Associated Press)