(12-16-2022 07:15 PM)tanqtonic Wrote: (12-16-2022 12:19 PM)GoodOwl Wrote: update for ya little white squirrel-lovers...
Quote:OBERLIN, Ohio (WJW) — Oberlin College and Conservatory has fully paid the penalty ordered after it was found liable of defaming a local family-operated bakery in 2019.
A college spokesperson confirmed to FOX 8 News that the damages awarded — totaling $36.6 million with interest — have been paid in full to Gibson’s Bakery. The spokesperson declined to make any further comment.
Bakery owners Allyn Gibson and his son, David Gibson, sued Oberlin College in November 2017 claiming they had been libeled by the school and their business had been harmed. The lawsuit was filed a year after David Gibson’s son, also named Allyn, chased and tackled a Black male student he suspected of having stolen a bottle of wine. Two Black female students who were with the male student tried to intervene. All three were arrested and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.
The arrests triggered protests outside Gibson’s Bakery where flyers were handed out, some by an Oberlin College vice president and dean of students, accusing the Gibsons of being racist. A Student Senate resolution condemning the Gibsons was emailed to all students and was posted in a display case at school’s student center, where it remained for a year. Oberlin College officials ordered its campus food provider to stop buying bakery items from Gibson’s.
A Lorain County jury awarded the Gibsons $44 million in 2019, but a judge later reduced that award to $25 million.
The college appealed the decision in May of this year. The Ohio Supreme Court in August declined to hear the college’s appeal, and the college chose not to pursue the matter further. The college began making payments in September, according to a statement from that month.
“Oberlin’s core mission is to provide our students with a distinctive and outstanding undergraduate education. The size of this verdict is significant,” the statement reads. “However, our careful financial planning, which includes insurance coverage, means that we can satisfy our legal obligation without impacting our academic and student experience. It is our belief that the way forward is to continue to support and strengthen the quality of education for our students now and into the future.”
Obi-not-kenOberlin
The crappy thing about that statement in September is that it never had within it any sort of apology for what the jury found had happened.
Utterly disgraceful what Oberlin did in response to the incident, what Oberlin did and promoted after the shoplifting, and the light in how they portrayed Gibson's in trial. And continued to when they have to cough up payment. Utterly disgraceful. Couldnt have happened to any more of deserving institution imo.
Edited to add: there was a giant hullaballoo in July and August, when Oberlin failed to meet a filing deadline and Gibson's moved to judgement on the $36 million bond posted by the insurance company. Based on that, the insurance company moved to vacate the bond since Oberlin messed up on the provisions of the policy.
I hope the flesh was taken a lot out of Oberlin itself. I dont know how the insurance issue ended up, but that type of attempted 'skip out' by the insurance company was / and will be one of the few times I will side with an insurance company in lawsuit about coverage issues.
Several years ago, I spoke with Mike Pressler, who had been the head lacrosse coach at Duke when his players were falsely accused of some pretty hideous crimes. As you may recall, the program was disbanded, the accused players were suspended or expelled, and Coach Pressler was forced out -- all based on accusations that were fishy from the beginning and soon known to be completely fabricated. After the facts came to light, there were absolutely no repercussions upon Duke's president or other leaders for their blindness. (In fact, a few years later a Duke VP defamed Pressler again, and Duke had to pay a second settlement to him for violating the terms of their first settlement.) Coach Pressler said that not even in private did anyone from Duke apologize to him.
Somehow, despite his horrible judgment, the idiot president managed to keep his job for another 11 (eleven!) years.
Hell hath no sanctimony like academia proven wrong.
Afternotes:
- In addition to forcing Duke to settle two lawsuits, Pressler went on to be head coach at Bryant University for 16 years, leading the team to the D2 final four and then to consistent presence in the D1 playoffs. In that span he also coached the US men's national team which won the 2010 world games. He retired in 2022 to heartfelt accolades from his former players and colleagues around the country.
- Duke ended up paying several millions to the falsely accused players and to Coach Pressler.
- One of the players is now a corporate attorney who does a lot of work with the Innocence Project.
- The women who fabricated the charges was later found guilty of murder.
- The prosecutor who filed the false charges was disbarred.
- The police supervisor who led the initial investigation resulting in the charges committee suicide.