$25 million judge against Oberlin College upheld by appeals court

[exboyfil]

An Ohio appeals court has upheld a $25 million judgment against Oberlin College awarded to a local business that successfully claimed it was libeled by the school in the aftermath of a shoplifting incident.


The 9th District Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected all of the historic liberal arts college's arguments and upheld a $6.2 million payment in attorney fees.

Oberlin students and staff protested outside Gibson's Bakery and Food Mart after the shoplifting incident in November 2016.

A jury in June 2019 awarded store owners Allyn Gibson and his son, David Gibson, $44 million in compensatory and punitive damages. A judge later reduced the award to $25 million.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/lorain-county/oberlin-college-gibsons-bakery-judgment-upheld/95-5ba6cd73-9f1a-490e-8064-d21a46bb84c0

It appears Oberlin College has no friends. I haven't seen very many opinion pieces in support of Oberlin. By the way the Dean at the center of this controversy got a new position as a VP at Oglethorpe University.

Former Dean of Students and Vice President Meredith Raimondo left Oberlin in October to begin her role as vice president for student affairs at Oglethorpe University.

https://oberlinreview.org/25680/news/former-dos-meredith-raimondo-leaves-oberlin/

[comradebillyboy]

1. I followed this case from the beginning. Oberlin screwed

the pooch in every possible way. They deserved to lose and are fortunate they didn't lose more. I'm a bit surprised to see that anyone thought hiring Raimondo was a good idea after the Oberlin fiasco.

[SYFROYH]

2. That's good. Oberlin fucked up in their response to their student stealing booze from a store..

... and then beating the clerk (with two Oberlin friends) who chased the main shoplifter.

From wiki:
The police arrested the students, charging all three with assault and the shoplifter with robbery as well. In August 2017, the three students pleaded guilty, stating that they believed Gibson's actions were justified and were not racially motivated.[10][12][13] Their plea deals carried no jail time in exchange for restitution, the public statement and a promise of future good behaviour.[12][14]

one of my favorite ironies is this (also from wiki):
An email from Vice President of Communications Ben Jones read, "All these idiots complaining about the college hurting a 'small local business' are conveniently leaving out their massive (relative to the town) conglomerate and price gouging on rents and parking and the predatory behavior toward most other local business. Fuck 'em."

Oberlin charges between $75,000 and $80,000 for tuition, fees, room, and board.
https://www.collegesimply.com/colleges/ohio/oberlin-college/price/

[mopinko]

3. they're not that fond of northwestern in evanston, either.

property taxes are double what i pay just across the border in chi.
the u owns half the town, including office buildings, student housing, and a huge lakefront campus.
they pay no property taxes and get free water.

they also charge for beach access up there, when the whole chicago lakefront is free. most vicious parking enforcement ever, too. nickeled and dimed.

[SYFROYH]

4. I work in college admin and I understand town v gown confiict, but...

Oberlin needed to defer to the legal process and 1st Amendment right of students to protest.

They tried to look like tough protectors of students and now they have to pay.

Of course this settle is easy for them.