Frat Files $25 Million Lawsuit Against Rolling Stone for Retracted Rape Story

The Washington Post is reporting that the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity has filed a $25 million lawsuit in state court against Rolling Stone. The suit calls the magazine’s retracted story about an alleged rape at the fraternity’s UVA chapter “reckless” and “unethical.”

WaPo’s T. Rees Shapiro reports that the defamation suit was filed Monday in state court; the complaint says the suit is meant to “seek redress for the wanton destruction caused to Phi Kappa Psi by Rolling Stone’s intentional, reckless, and unethical behavior.”

Three Phi Kappa Psi alums have already filed suit against the magazine as well as reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely, arguing the story caused them personal harm and had “a devastating effect on each of the Plaintiffs’ reputations.” Rolling Stone filed a motion in late October to have the suit dismissed, arguing that “no reasonable reader” would identify those three men specifically as the rapists detailed in Erdeley’s article. A hearing on that suit is set for November 13.

The Phi Kappa Psi house at UVA. Image via AP Images