The article by author Sarah Fitzpatrick, which Patel, 46, calls a "malicious hit piece", quoted two dozen colleagues and witnesses about Patel’s "bouts of excessive drinking" and behaviour including "both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences".
The story said Patel’s behaviour had alarmed officials at the FBI and Department of Justice and that he desperately feared being fired by President Donald Trump, who does not drink and distrusts heavy drinkers.
Patel, who chugged beer while celebrating the US national ice hockey teams Olympic gold medal in Italy, filed the suit in federal district court in Washington, D.C.
He denied the allegations of drunken behaviour and criticised the magazine for relying on anonymous sources.
"Defendants cannot evade responsibility for their malicious lies by hiding behind sham sources," the lawsuit said.
The Atlantic said it stood by the story and expected what it called the "meritless lawsuit" to be dismissed.
Fitzpatrick wrote that she interviewed more than two dozen people about Patel and granted them anonymity to "discuss sensitive information and private conversations". — New York Daily News
