How did a bottle of wine in Oberlin, Ohio get ramped up to $11 million?

[shanen]

What I was most interested in and could not find in an earlier discussion on Democratic Underground, in the original article, nor in the Wikipedia article (where half of the history of Oberlin College in the 21st century is about this story) is an explanation of how this got ramped up to $11 million.

Talk about extreme escalation. This started with a couple of kids trying to get some booze. I think there probably was some profiling going on, but most likely it was for youngsters who had no legal business gathering in the alcohol section.

So on the one hand I have a question plus some related personal reminisces, but on the other hand, I really doubt that DU is a suitable venue for such a discussion... Here goes anyway?

(1) My main question is "Were any rightwing extremists behind the escalation?" Was this minor incident seen as a golden opportunity to attack the liberals? Was there any baiting or triggering used to goad students, staff, and even falculty into getting involved? As the incident escalated, where did the lawyers come from? In particular I'd like to know about the bakery's lawyers and who funded their efforts.

(2) Personal memory #1 is of how kids got booze in my youth, which was usually by asking an older person to buy it. Has that path been blocked? Perhaps under Ohio law it's a major crime now?

(3) Memory #2 is about how, in 2016, under the emotional stress of the Trump election, I made an extremely bad purchase decision. I didn't go all the way to the five-finger discount, but I bought a piece of garbage from a company that I already knew to be a source of bad products... Yet another aspect of the divisive insanity that is destroying America?

(4) Memory #3 is actually a series of encounters with Trumpists. In several cases they are people I have known for years and who used to seem sane, but who now eagerly defend insane beliefs. I had such a run in just a few days ago. This case was someone I hadn't met since 2016, but we both remembered each other from repeated meetings and social discussions more than 10 years ago. After a couple of minutes I decided there was something odd, so I probed a bit and his brainwashed Hillary hatred exploded like a land mine. (If Hillary was 1/10th as evil and the deep state was 1/10th as powerful as he thinks, then how can he possibly explain their failure to "handle" the election of 2016?)

[madaboutharry]

1. The lawsuit was against Oberlin University.

Officials in the employee of Oberlin University orchestrated boycotts, demonstrations, and defamed the bakery. There was no profiling. The students admitted that they entered the store with the intent to commit a robbery, made a purchase with a false ID, and stole other bottles of wine.

Several administrators and professors engaged in conduct that nearly put the bakery out of business. Their conduct was a disgrace. The owners of the bakery did nothing wrong. Oberlin failed to act responsibly in regards to students at the university committing a crime.

Read the actual filings, they can be found online.

[Dr. Strange]

2. Yeah, the defamation was the largest part of it.

I posted this in the other thread, but the breakdown was:
Allyn W. Gibson $3 million
David Gibson $5.8 million
Gibson Bros. (the bakery) $2,274,500

The first two are two of the owners, who were libeled/defamed. So in reality, the bakery itself wasn't awarded 11 million--most of the award is going to two of the owners.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/06/verdict-jury-awards-gibsons-bakery-11-million-against-oberlin-college/

[Jake Stern]

3. It's certain to be lowered on appeal

But it sends a clear message that folks are fed up with triggered student/faculty shenanigans. According to multiple witnesses, the dean, acting in her official capacity, egged on the protest then tried to claim she was not.

The college severed long standing business arrangements with the company over this incident.

The college had a chance to issue a statement that they refuted the students claim but arrogantly turned it down.

They tried to say they were neutral but that was shot down when it came out that admin started acting as though they were part of the student’s defense team. This included chartering a limo to take one of the accused students to meet with a defense attorney.

Pay up Oberlin and next time make it crystal clear that staff/faculty are acting on their own and not in their official capacity and remain neutral. Never know, it just might work.