This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Ps are three men in their mid-twenties who graduated from UVA in 2013. All were active members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in the fall of 2012. Elias lived in the first bedroom at the top of the stairs on the second floor of Phi Kappa Psi's on-campus fraternity house; Fowler was a previous rush chair for the fraternity and an avid swimmer at the university aquatic facility; and Hadford frequently rode his bike on campus in the year following his graduation. Their membership in the fraternity and the UVA class of 2013 was shown and listed on Ps' Facebook accounts, Phi Kappa Psi's website, and is common knowledge amongst current and former UVA students. In the fall of 2012, there were fifty-three Phi Kappa Psi members, of whom thirty-one were members of either the class of 2013 or 2014. Phi Kappa Psi's on-campus house hosted many events. Elias lived in the Phi Kappa Psi house in the first bedroom at the top of the first flight of stairs; according to the complaint, this was known to people who knew Elias because, among other reasons, it was unusual for Phi Kappa Psi members to live in the on-campus house for more than one year. Elias's room was the only bedroom in the house on the second floor that was not located behind an electronic keypad lock; it was therefore the only bedroom on the second floor that was directly accessible from the house's main staircase. Elias's room was also one of only three rooms on the second floor of the house large enough to hold ten people. Elias's room was also one of only three rooms on the second floor of the house large enough to hold ten people. Hadford wore Phi Kappa Psi shirts almost daily prior to the release of the Article. Hadford lived on campus for fifteen months after graduating, and he frequently rode his bike across the UVA campus on his way to work or social visits. Rolling Stone published an online article authored by Erdely titled, 'A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA.' The Article generated worldwide headlines, and its online edition received more than 2.7 million views. 'Jackie' who was Erdely's primary source for the piece. The Article recounts a brutal gang rape that Jackie claimed she suffered over the course of three hours in a bedroom at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at UVA in the fall of 2012. Jackie, a freshman at a party with 'her date, a handsome Phi Kappa Psi brother' pseudonymously named 'Drew,' a junior whom she 'met while [they were] working lifeguard shifts together at the university pool.' Drew then invited Jackie to an upstairs bedroom, where she was subsequently thrown through a glass table and forcibly gang raped by seven men while Drew and a ninth man observed. 'Spectators swigged beers,' and the attackers 'called each other nicknames like Armpit and Blanket.' The attackers encouraged one participant to rape Jackie by uttering statements like 'What, she's not hot enough for you?'; 'Don't you want to be a brother?'; and 'We all had to do it, so you do, too.' Id. Jackie passed out and awoke with her dress 'spattered with blood,' at which point she exited the house while the party was still underway. Drew later thanked Jackie for a 'great time' at the party, and the other purported attackers likewise behaved toward Jackie as if nothing had ever happened. At the end of her freshman year, Jackie first reported the rape to UVA Dean Nicole Eramo. The Article described a rape that occurred at the Phi Kappa Psi house in 1984, and two other female UVA undergraduates contacted her and confided that they, too, had recently been Phi Kappa Psi gang-rape victims. Erdely was interviewed as a guest on a podcast. Three weeks after the Article's online publication, the Washington Post published an article titled, 'Key elements of Rolling Stone's U-Va. gang rape allegations in doubt.' Rolling Stone's managing editor issued a public apology on the magazine's website. Jackie, Erdely's primary source, had fabricated the account of the gang rape and its aftermath, including the purported failures by the UVA administration to respond appropriately. Rolling Stone officially retracted the Article and issued a written apology. Ps sued Ds for defamation. Ds moved to dismiss. The Court held that Ps had not alleged sufficient facts to show that the allegedly defamatory statements were 'of and concerning' them and held that Erdely's Podcast remarks were non-actionable opinion. The court then held that the allegations were also insufficient to support small group defamation. Ps appealed.

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