Deposition ruling gives attorneys for UVA dean and Rolling Stone each several hours to question the student but not about specific details of the alleged assault

A Virginia judge has ruled that “Jackie”, the central figure in a retracted Rolling Stone article about her allegations of gang rape on the University of Virginia campus, must submit to a deposition in an ongoing defamation lawsuit against the publication.

Tuesday’s decision overruled objections from Jackie’s lawyers that probing questions would be traumatizing for a survivor of sexual assault.

But Rolling Stone’s failure to thoroughly vet the University of Virginia student’s claims, including her claim of assault, are at the center of the legal troubles now facing the magazine. In this lawsuit – one of two – Nicole Eramo, an associate dean at UVA, is suing the magazine for several million dollars over claims the magazine used false details to make her into the villain of the November 2014 feature article written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

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“Rolling Stone was dead set on portraying Eramo as a callous administrator who discouraged Jackie from reporting an assault to police,” when it was Eramo who connected Jackie with police, said Libby Locke, Eramo’s attorney, in a statement to reporters. “Had Rolling Stone done the fact-checking and digging that they were legally and ethically required to do as journalists, dean Eramo would not have been so wrongfully targeted.”

The ruling gives attorneys for Eramo and Rolling Stone each several hours to question Jackie, but not about specific details of the assault. The deposition transcript and recordings will be sealed from the public.

Rolling Stone retracted A Rape on Campus, as the feature was titled, in December 2014 after questions arose about Jackie’s narrative of gang rape at a fraternity and the indifferent response she says she received from students and faculty. On the magazine’s website, a link to the original story now redirects to a voluminous investigation, by Columbia Journalism School dean Steve Coll, which asks, “What Went Wrong?”

Another lawsuit, brought by the UVA chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, is seeking $25m from Rolling Stone and is ongoing.