--- title: Rolling Stone Rape Story: UVA Fraternity Lawsuit Tossed Out description: 'Their defamation claims are directed toward a report about events that simply did not happen' canonical: https://time.com/4388049/uva-fraternity-defamation-lawsuit-tossed/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-29T21:31:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:50.947Z og:title: Judge Tossed Out Lawsuit Over 'Rolling Stone' Rape Story og:description: The judge said the claim was 'about events that simply did not happen' og:url: https://time.com/4388049/uva-fraternity-defamation-lawsuit-tossed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16f58987377af9ac/69889a13bc6cfc3b2b3dd9d7/uva-fraternity-lawsuit-tossed-rolling-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: University Of Virginia Lifts Suspension On Fraternity Activities og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Judge Tossed Out Lawsuit Over 'Rolling Stone' Rape Story twitter:description: The judge said the claim was 'about events that simply did not happen' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16f58987377af9ac/69889a13bc6cfc3b2b3dd9d7/uva-fraternity-lawsuit-tossed-rolling-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Judge Tossed Out UVA Frat Members' Lawsuit Over 'Rolling Stone' Rape Article by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 29, 2016 9:31 PM UTC  The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity stands next to the University of Virginia (UVA) campus in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015\. This year's rush week at UVA, the prolonged annual rite in which fraternities and sororities recruit new members, carries fresh significance. Depending on who you talk to, the student rituals embody either an unchecked culture of sexual violence or a community victimized by stigma and false accusations. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity stands next to the University of Virginia (UVA) campus in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015\. This year's rush week at UVA, the prolonged annual rite in which fraternities and sororities recruit new members, carries fresh significance. Depending on who you talk to, the student rituals embody either an unchecked culture of sexual violence or a community victimized by stigma and false accusations. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAndrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 29, 2016 9:31 PM UTC On Wednesday, a judge tossed out a lawsuit that former fraternity members at the [University of Virginia ](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3665328/Rolling-stone-UVA-gang-rape-defamation-lawsuit-tossed-judge-says-article-offered-speculation-fact.html)filed against _Rolling Stone_ for defamation over an article that described a gang rape at their fraternity. The story was [later d](http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-what-went-wrong-20150405)iscredited and _Rolling Stone_ has since retracted it. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel cited comments as “speculation and hypothesis rather than fact,” according to [_The Associated Press_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/09ca1bccc46a4bf486b5077cf3456f7e/defamation-lawsuit-over-debunked-rolling-stone-story-tossed). The three men who [brought about the lawsuit](http://time.com/3772657/rolling-stone-rape-phi-kappa-psi-lawsuit/) were never mentioned by name in the[ _Rolling Stone_ article](http://time.com/3771738/rolling-stone-uva-rape-columbia-journalism-school/), which depicted an alleged gang rape at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in September 2012\. [Nicole Eramo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/local/eramo-vs-rolling-stone-complaint/1692/), the associate dean named in the story, has also filed a defamation suit against _Rolling Stone_. The three men were members of Phi Kappa Psi in 2012, but have since graduated from [UVA](http://time.com/3772252/uva-student-rolling-stone-columbia-review/). In Judge Castel’s reasoning for dropping the case, he notes, “Their defamation claims are directed toward a report about events that simply did not happen.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4388049/uva-fraternity-defamation-lawsuit-tossed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4388049/uva-fraternity-defamation-lawsuit-tossed/"},"headline":"Judge Tossed Out UVA Frat Members' Lawsuit Over 'Rolling Stone' Rape Article","datePublished":"2016-06-29T21:31:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:50.947Z","description":"'Their defamation claims are directed toward a report about events that simply did not happen'","url":"https://time.com/4388049/uva-fraternity-defamation-lawsuit-tossed/","keywords":["motto","Courts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16f58987377af9ac/69889a13bc6cfc3b2b3dd9d7/uva-fraternity-lawsuit-tossed-rolling-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16f58987377af9ac/69889a13bc6cfc3b2b3dd9d7/uva-fraternity-lawsuit-tossed-rolling-stone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"University Of Virginia Lifts Suspension On Fraternity Activities","caption":"University Of Virginia Lifts Suspension On Fraternity Activities","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4388049/uva-fraternity-defamation-lawsuit-tossed/","name":"Judge Tossed Out UVA Frat Members' Lawsuit Over 'Rolling Stone' Rape Article"}}]}] ```