Day 12: Judge tosses part of Eramo’s suit against Rolling Stone

The third week of former UVA dean Nicole Eramo’s $7.5 million defamation trial against Rolling Stone began October 31, and in a nod to Halloween, Eramo chose black and orange attire for her court appearance. Her attorney, Libby Locke, came in sporting crutches, but those were not a costume and came from a sprained ankle […]

Day 11: Wenner defiant, Eramo rests in Rolling Stone trial

After 11 days of evidence, plaintiff Nicole Eramo rested her case against Rolling Stone October 28– but not before testimony from magazine founder Jann Wenner raised stakes and eyebrows in this $7.5 million libel case. “We have never retracted the whole article– and don’t intend to,” declared the magazine owner in a videotaped deposition played for the […]

Day 10: Rolling Stone’s remorse in defamation trial

The final Thursday witness for the plaintiff in the $7.5 million libel trial against Rolling Stone was Sara Surface. A friend to Jackie, Surface seemed to have a purpose in alleging that reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely had prejudged plaintiff Nicole Eramo. “She disregarded me because I didn’t fit the narrative,” said Surface. An email released […]

Day 9: UVA believed Jackie, too, say witnesses

Attorneys for plaintiff Nicole Eramo called her former boss, Dean of Students Allen Groves, to the stand October 26 to bolster her claims that she was unfairly portrayed as a callous administrator to victims of sexual assault in Rolling Stone’s article, “A Rape on Campus.” “My first impression, and it remains my impression, it painted […]

Day 8: Rolling Stone fact checker, Jackie’s friends testify

For a second day, former Rolling Stone fact-checker Elisabeth Garber-Paul took the stand to explain why she believed Jackie, the student whose fake gang rape story sent the University of Virginia campus into uproar two years ago. “She seemed to really care about getting this story right,”  testified Garber-Paul. “She was totally comfortable with having […]

Bad memory: Jackie testifies on Day 7 of Rolling Stone trial

If “yes, to my great regret” has become the stock answer for remorseful Rolling Stone reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely, then her protagonist in the now-discredited gang rape tale—the one who sent a college into chaos two years ago—has found a mantra of her own: “I don’t remember.” Before a hushed courtroom in downtown Charlottesville, a […]

Day 3: Testimony gets heated in Rolling Stone trial

  If yesterday was an emotional sob fest, Wednesday’s proceedings in UVA administrator Nicole Eramo’s defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone were much calmer, with the leading ladies in the suit—plaintiff Eramo and defendant/reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely—both taking the stand and both sparring with opposing counsel. It was not without emotion, however. At the lunchtime recess […]

Day 2: Eramo takes stand in suit against Rolling Stone

It was a courtroom with tears shed on both sides of the aisle. The defamation trial pitting former University of Virginia dean Nicole Eramo against her portrayal by Rolling Stone magazine’s Sabrina Rubin Erdely got into full swing Tuesday with both women crying at the federal courthouse. There was even talk of past tears, such as […]

Day 1: Jurors selected in Eramo v. Rolling Stone defamation trial

Nearly two years after Rolling Stone put UVA in the national spotlight with an article called “A Rape on Campus,” 100 potential jurors crammed into U.S. District Court October 17 for the start of a 12-day trial to determine whether the magazine, reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely and Wenner Media LLC defamed former UVA associate dean […]

In brief: Angry administrator, unwise Facebooking and more

Rolling Stone cries foul Days before UVA former associate dean Nicole Eramo’s 12-day defamation trial is set to begin October 17, the magazine accused her of improperly releasing video depositions to ABC’s “20/20” to air October 14, and sought relief in an emergency motion. The judge ruled October 11 that Eramo can’t use leaked videos […]