UVA Phi Kappa Psi sues the Rolling Stone for $25 million

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Reporters and media companies have insurance for this sort of thing. I'm not sure about the university administrator though. Having sued one recently, all I can say is that University General Counsel was the only legal entity we dealt with.

I wonder if the University administrator is covered under a Directors and Officers liability policy. If so, the defense costs are included within their limits (unlike a General Liability policy where defense costs are in addition to the limit), and the policy is much more limited in what it covers (e.g. no explicit duty to defend the insured, excludes bodily injury and property damage, etc.).

ETA: I just re-read the article. Is there a university admin. who is being sued by the fraternity? It looks like there's one who's suing Rolling Stone...

[Kevin]

Good question. Usually those policies are to protect the schools, but to be honest, I've never had to drill down to that answer before.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

ETA: I just re-read the article. Is there a university admin. who is being sued by the fraternity? It looks like there's one who's suing Rolling Stone...

The complaint does not name anyone connected with the university as a defendant. The defendants are Rolling Stone LLC, its sole shareholder Wenner Media LLC, Wenner Media's sole shareholder Straight Arrow Publications LLC, and the author.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

The complaint does not name anyone connected with the university as a defendant. The defendants are Rolling Stone LLC, its sole shareholder Wenner Media LLC, Wenner Media's sole shareholder Straight Arrow Publications LLC, and the author.

I wonder if there was a strategic reason for not suing the university or any administrators, or if they simply didn't feel as good about potential claims against it.