“Jackie,” the UVA student at the center of the discredited, retracted campus rape story from Rolling Stone, must testify in a defamation lawsuit against the magazine, a judge has ruled. Jackie’s attorneys had argued that the woman would be “re-traumatized” if she were compelled to be deposed in the suit.
UVA Dean Nicole Eramo is suing Rolling Stone, arguing that her portrayal in Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s story was “highly defamatory and false”—the result, her lawyers wrote, “of a wanton journalist who was more concerned with writing an article that fulfilled her preconceived narrative about the victimization of women on American college campuses, and a malicious publisher who was more concerned about selling magazines to boost the economic bottom line for its faltering magazine, than they were about discovering the truth or actual facts.”
Eramo’s attorney have said, too, that deposing Jackie is central to their case; in an earlier filing, they referred to her as a “serial liar.”
CNN Money reports that during a Monday hearing, Judge Glen E. Conrad denied a motion filed by Jackie’s attorneys to quash a deposition subpoena. The deposition records and transcripts will be sealed, however, meaning that her full name won’t be publicly available.
Eramo is seeking $7.85 million in damages. Rolling Stone is also separately being sued by Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity named in Erdley’s story. Citing the magazine’s “intentional, reckless, and unethical behavior,” they’re asking for $25 million. Three former Phi Kappa Psi members are also suing the magazine on their own, and haven’t named the amount of damages they’re seeking.
The Phi Kappa Psi house at UVA. Photo via AP Images