Three members of the fraternity accused in a now-retracted Rolling Stone article of facilitating a brutal gang rape are suing the magazine, its publisher and the author.

George Elias IV, Ross Fowler and Stephen Hadford allege in their lawsuit that they were easily identified as members of Phi Kappa Psi who could have participated in the gang-rape, which was proved false shortly after the article was published. The three men have since graduated but allege in their lawsuit that they were subjected to harassment following the article's publication.

Elias' bedroom was at the top of the first flight of stairs in the fraternity house, and was "the mostly likely scene of the alleged crime," the former students say. Elias says in the lawsuit that after "family friends, acquaintances, co-workers and reporters" identified him as one of the potential attackers, they "interrogated him, humiliated him, and scolded him." Fowler and Hadford say they "suffered similar attacks."

The lawsuit alleges that the students' names and hometowns were listed online by anonymous Internet commenters, ensuring their "names will forever be associated with the alleged gang rape."

The lawsuit also alleges that the three members have "suffered emotion turmoil" and are "still being questioned often about the article's accusations."

Once Elias was identified, he was "solicited daily for three consecutive days at his own home" by T. Rees Shapiro of the Washington Post, whose own investigation into the Rolling Stone claims brought about the article's demise. Elias claims in the lawsuit that he "became nervous and distraught that reporters were easily able to find him and solicit him at his home."

Elias also alleges that a female co-worker questioned him about the article after it was first published. When Elias denied the accusations, the coworker allegedly said, "Well, you aren't telling me that you would accuse this girl of lying, now, would you?" Another female coworker asked Elias which fraternity he belonged to at U.Va., and asked if he was a "good person" when she found out he belonged to Phi Psi.

Yet another woman, who didn't even know Elias, began retweeting his old tweets and posting pictures of him on her Facebook page.

Fowler says in the lawsuit he was "devastated, embarrassed and ashamed to confront his family and friends" about the article. Fowler said he could tell that family and friends' opinions of him had shifted following the article, as he was continuously hounded about the accusations at gatherings.

Fowler's coworkers questioned him about his alleged involvement, and he was humiliated at a social gathering at his brother's house. Simply wearing a U.Va. shirt while out buying Christmas gifts with his mother brought undue questions about his involvement in the alleged attack.

Hadford alleges he was harassed through "social media, texts, emails and in person" once readers identified him as a potential participant in the alleged gang rape. Hadford, now a medical student, was approached and questioned at a memorial service by a young woman who believed the allegations were true.

All three men have stopped acknowledging that they were members of Phi Psi.

The men are suing for two counts of defamation and "negligent infliction of emotional distress," requesting $75,000 for each of the three counts.

The Rolling Stone story at the center of the lawsuit, "A Rape on Campus," claimed that a University of Virginia college freshman named "Jackie" was gang-raped by seven fraternity members at a Phi Psi party. One of her alleged attackers was her date for the evening, "Drew," who allegedly worked as a lifeguard at the school aquatics facility. Another one of the alleged attackers attended a class with Jackie.

As the story fell apart, different names were given for "Drew," including "Haven Monahan."

The fraternity members note in their lawsuit that no such party or gathering took place the night Jackie claimed — there was no pledging in the fall semester, no one named "Drew" or "Haven Monahan" was a member at the time, no member worked as a lifeguard at the time and no member matched the physical description given in the article.

In fact, neither "Drew" nor "Haven Monahan" ever existed.

Further, Charlottesville police investigated the claims made in the article and acknowledged in a press conference that the department was "not able to conclude to any substantive degree" that such claims were accurate.

The false article led to Phi Psi's fraternity house being vandalized, and the fraternity was suspended by U.Va. President Teresa Sullivan, who, even after admitting the story was false, imposed numerous restrictions on Phi Psi and other fraternities.

The fraternity members' lawsuit is the second filed against Rolling Stone due to the retracted story. U.Va. Dean Nicole Eramo, who was the only named villain in the article, filed a lawsuit in May against the magazine for its portrayal of her.

Amid the lawsuits, Rolling Stone announced that Managing Editor Will Dana is set to leave the magazine on Aug. 7. Dana issued an apology for the discredited article on Dec. 5, 2014, and received a backlash for suggesting that the problem with the story was the magazine's "misplaced" trust in Jackie. A few days later, Dana revised the apology to remove that part, and place blame for the article solely on the magazine.

No one involved with the story was fired – not Dana, not Sean Woods, who edited the article, not any of the fact-checkers who approved it and not its author, Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

Dana told the Columbia Journalism Review, which did a deep dive into the journalistic failures of the article, that he didn't know Erdely hadn't found the rapist named by Jackie, and when the source stopped responding to messages, Dana allowed Erdely to stop looking for the accused rapist and use a pseudonym in the article.

Rolling Stone's publisher, Jann S. Wenner, whose media company is also being sued by the fraternity members, didn't answer questions about whether Dana was leaving due to the gang-rape article. Instead, through a spokesman, he told the New York Times that "many factors go into a decision like this."

Dana does not have another job lined up, and no successor has been named. In a statement, he said: "After 19 years at Rolling Stone, I have decided that it is time to move on," adding: "It has been a great ride and I loved it even more than I imagined I would. I am as excited to see where the magazine goes next as I was in the summer of 1978 when I bought my first issue."