In what its majority termed “a close call,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit allowed a defamation suit over the now-debunked 2014 article published by Rolling Stone magazine that detailed an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity. The panel reversed the majority of the district court’s dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings.
“At this stage of the litigation, plaintiffs need only plead sufficient facts to make it plausible—not probable or even reasonably likely—that a reader familiar with each plaintiff would identify him as the subject of the statements at issue,” the opinion in Elias v. Rolling Stone, 16-2465-cv, read.
