Phi+Kappa+Psi+Rolling+Stone+Complaint+2015-11-09.Pdf
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COMPLAINT TO THE HONORABLE JUDGES OF SAID COURT: COMES NOW the Virginia Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity (“Plaintiff” or “Phi Kappa Psi”), and moves the Court for entry of judgment on its behalf against Rolling Stone LLC, Wenner Media LLC., Straight Arrow Publishers LLC, and Sabrina Rubin Erdely (collectively, “Rolling Stone” or “Defendants”), jointly and severally, and in support thereof respectfully states the following: NATURE OF THE ACTION 1. This is a defamation action brought by the Virginia Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity against Rolling Stone and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the writer and Contributing Editor of an article entitled “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA” (the “Article”), which was featured in a Rolling Stone publication issued on November 19, 2014. This action is brought in direct response to the defamatory statements made in Rolling Stone’s Article, as well as to subsequent statements made by Erdely and Rolling Stone which repeated and reinforced the defamatory statements made in the original Article. The Article described in graphic detail the horrifying ordeal of a University of Virginia freshman woman identified as “Jackie.” Jackie was brought to a Phi Kappa Psi date function held on September 28, 2012, by a third-year UVA undergraduate and member of Phi Kappa Psi, identified as “Drew.” Jackie met Drew at the UVA Aquatic and Fitness Center, where they both worked. During the Phi Kappa Psi party, Jackie was given alcoholic punch to drink, and then led upstairs into a dark bedroom by Drew. As soon as she entered the bedroom, 2 Jackie was tackled and sent backwards onto a low glass table, which shattered and caused shards of glass to dig into her back. She was punched, pinned to the table, a hand was clamped over her mouth, and her legs were pried apart. She was then ritually raped by seven Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members for three agonizing hours. One of the rapists began the ritual by shouting “Grab its motherfucking leg.” The gang-rape was a Phi Kappa Psi initiation rite. During the ritual rape one of Jackie’s assailants chastised one of the other assailants, saying: “Don’t you want to be a brother? We all had to do it, so you do, too.” Jackie was repeatedly raped, as well as violated with a beer bottle, which was shoved into her. The Article goes on to recount Jackie describing her horrific experience to three friends on the night of the atrocity, and later to officials within UVA, all of whom were insensitive and unsupportive, acting as apologists for what the Article portrayed as UVA’s culture of rape. In the aftermath of the Article, Phi Kappa Psi and its members became the object of an avalanche of condemnation worldwide. 2. The Article, however, was entirely false and a complete fabrication. The infirmities in the Article were first exposed by other news organizations, such as The Washington Post, which noted fundamental flaws in Jackie’s account and raised the possibility that the entire story may have been concocted. Rolling Stone reacted to these reports by doubling down on its original Article, standing by its story, engaging in deception and cover-up, and issuing interviews and public statements that lied about its sourcing. Investigations by the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, the University of Virginia, and the Charlottesville Police Department, however, would reveal that the gang-rape never happened. There was no Phi Kappa Psi date function on September 28, 2012. The ringleader of the alleged gang-rape, “Drew,” did not exist. No member of Phi Kappa Psi worked at the Aquatic Center with Jackie. Jackie was not gang-raped, or sexually 3 assaulted by anyone in any manner at Phi Kappa Psi, nor was she assaulted by any Phi Kappa Psi member at any other time or place. The interactions Jackie described with her three friends on the night of the alleged event did not take place, and the quotations attributed to those friends were fabricated. The portrayal of insensitivity to Jackie’s allegations by UVA officials was false, and included fabricated statements by those officials. Rolling Stone, caught in this colossal act of defamatory falsehood, commissioned the prestigious Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, led by the School’s Dean, Steve Coll, along with Sheila Coronel and Derek Kravitz, to investigate the episode. The Columbia Journalism School issued a devastating Report, severely criticizing Rolling Stone, its writer and editors for failing to corroborate Jackie’s story before publishing the Article. Thereafter, Rolling Stone retracted the Article, and admitted its falsehood. 3. This defamation action alleges that Rolling Stone set out in advance to find a sensational story of graphic and violent rape, searched for such a story at elite universities, and rejected other possible stories because the sexual assaults they portrayed were too “normal.” Rolling Stone endorsed and encouraged Erdely’s efforts to troll elite American college campuses in search of a sensational and graphic rape narrative, and rejected potential stories from universities such as Yale that lacked the sensational quality Rolling Stone sought. Rolling Stone and Erdely had an agenda, and they were recklessly oblivious to the harm they would cause innocent victims in their ruthless pursuit of that agenda. 4. Rolling Stone knew from the beginning that Jackie was an unreliable source and that her story was questionable. Rolling Stone intentionally and deliberately failed to verify the existence of Drew or to contact Drew, intentionally and deliberately 4 neglected to contact or interview any of the friends Jackie spoke to on the night of the heinous crime, intentionally and deliberately neglected to verify that a date function had taken place at the Phi Kappa Psi House on that night, intentionally and deliberately misled and manipulated the leader of Phi Kappa Psi in a last-minute request for comment so as to falsely portray Phi Kappa Psi as stonewalling Rolling Stone, and intentionally and deliberately neglected to obtain records and information that would have demonstrated the falsity of Jackie’s story. The Article was intentionally crafted to deceive readers into believing Rolling Stone had identified Drew and spoken to all key witnesses, when in fact Rolling Stone had itself developed the idea of simply creating a fictional name for the assailant, having also intentionally decided not to identify or interview Drew or any of Jackie’s three friends. These actions by Rolling Stone were part of an intentional and deliberate quid pro quo arrangement in which Rolling Stone intentionally avoided sourcing and corroborating the story in return for Jackie’s continuing cooperation and willingness to not back down from her story. All Rolling Stone wanted and needed was a willing source—Jackie—who would stick to her incredible claims and provide Rolling Stone with a patina of journalistic cover. Rolling Stone knew that the publication of its story would and should result in investigations and prosecutions of Phi Kappa Psi and its individual members; that said investigations would result in long prison sentences—perhaps sentences for life; and that its Article all but assured the utter destruction of the reputations of Phi Kappa Psi and its individual members. These allegations did not concern harmless fraternity pranks. These were allegations of ritualized and criminal gang-rape that Rolling Stone knew were the predicates for annihilation of Phi Kappa Psi and widespread persecution of its members. Allegations of systematic gang-rape carried out in the service of institutional policy are conventionally 5 connected with war crimes and brutal, uncivil cultures; yet, despite knowing the severity of Jackie’s allegations, Rolling Stone allowed the atrocious behavior described in the Article to become forever associated with Phi Kappa Psi. Rolling Stone knew that it was uncertain as to whether Jackie’s incredible story was true or false. It knew it needed to corroborate and verify its story, yet its reporters and editors conspired not to do so. Editors and fact-checkers inside Rolling Stone spotted red flags that indicated the story was flawed and raised alarms, yet nothing was done. Rolling Stone published the Article—the story was simply too tempting, too sensational, to let facts get in the way. 5. Rape is a brutal and heinous crime, and sexual assault on American campuses must not be tolerated; however, serious public discourse about sexual assault is not served by the intentional publication of a lurid and horrific story that was intentionally and callously not corroborated, notwithstanding the publisher’s serious subjective doubts that the account was true. In the most scurrilous traditions of yellow tabloid journalism, Rolling Stone published a devastating story it knowingly failed to verify, in reckless disregard for truth or falsity, or the essential safety, dignity, and welfare of the organization or of those lives it was willing to crush with its defamatory Article and subsequent cover-up attempts. This defamation action is brought to seek redress for the wanton destruction caused to Phi Kappa Psi by Rolling Stone’s intentional, reckless, and unethical behavior. 6 PARTIES, JURISDICTION, AND VENUE 6. Defendant Rolling Stone LLC is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in New York. Rolling Stone LLC has only one member, which is Wenner Media LLC, a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in New York. The sole member of Wenner Media LLC is Straight Arrow Publishers LLC, which is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in New York. The members of Straight Arrow Publishers LLC are: (1) Straight Arrow Publishers Inc.; (2) the Jacob Eisner 2012 Trust 45; (3) the Sophie Eisner 2012 Trust 45; (4) the Robin Ruddell 2012 Trust 45; (5) the 2006 Wenner Family LLC; (6) Megan Kingsbury; (7) Jacob Eisner; (8) Sophie Eisner; (9) the Kalei Wenner Irrevocable Trust.