It seems as if you can sue someone for saying or writing an opinion as if it's a fact. Ms. Eramo was not allowed by the University of Virginia to give an interview to Ms. Erdely, so Ms. Eramo's lawsuit could perhaps have argued that, although the substance of the article is factual, Ms. Eramo was unfairly characterized because Rolling Stone did not consider Ms. Eramo's lack of permission from her employer to contribute to the article before the magazine published Ms. Eramo's name and picture.
However, for Ms. Eramo to sue based on that argument, which isn't a strong argument in the first place because her job was to help victims of felonies, Ms. Eramo, and her lawyers, would have had to defy the University of Virginia, Phi Kappa Psi, the Charlottesville Police Department, The Washington Post, and every other major media source which has reported about the Rolling Stone article.
Ms. Eramo might not be the most courageous person who ever lived, but she is employed, and that's something with which really courageous people frequently struggle.
Copyright L. Kochman, October 19, 2016 @ 3:34 p.m.