Oberlin College ordered to post $36 million bond to delay Gibson’s Bakery collection of Judgment
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Anonymous
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https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/07/oberlin-college-ordered-to-post-36-million-bond-to-delay-gibsons-bakery-collection-of-judgment/
The compensatory and punitive damages of $25 million (after reduction for tort reform caps), plus the over $6.5 million in attorney’s fees and costs, put Oberlin College almost $32 million in debt to Gibson’s Bakery and its owners. Oberlin’s $44 Million Mistake An Ohio jury sends a message about politics to colleges: Enough is enough. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/oberlins-44-million-mistake-11561589414 What happened at Oberlin is a parable for the politics of our times. Its lesson is that you may end up paying a high price for your facile political assumptions about people with whom you don’t agree. Here is the short version of the Oberlin incident: In early November 2016, the owner of a store near the campus apprehended a then-19-year-old black student for shoplifting wine. In response, about 150 students staged protests in front of the store, accusing its owners of racism and racial profiling. This month, a jury said Oberlin’s handling of the incident would cost it $11 million in compensatory damages and $33.2 million in punitive damages (which is $11 million more than Ohio law permits). The student protesters were only the proximate cause of Oberlin’s problem. The jury wasn’t particularly interested in the student protesters or their accusation of “racism,” which presumably remains protected opinion. What really interested the jury was the actions of senior managers at Oberlin College as they related to the protesters’ other accusation against Gibson’s Bakery—that it practiced racial profiling, which is a substantive act, not mere opinion. After the protests erupted, Oberlin suspended the college’s baked-goods orders with the Gibsons. In its official fact sheet about the event, Oberlin says it suspended the bakery “in an effort to remove issues that might provoke further confrontation with the students.” When an Oberlin professor complained this was a “fundamental denial of due process” for Gibson’s, the dean of students replied: “[Expletive] him. I’d say unleash the students if I wasn’t convinced this needs to be put behind us.” Good job Oberlin. What a mess. |
Anonymous
| We had a long discussion of this in the Colleges and University forum some time ago. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/809776.page |
Anonymous
| This is a perfect example of the fact that liberal reality isn't always synonymous with legal reality. |
Anonymous
+1 In the real world you can’t steal wine and pretend you are a victim and have your community attack the wronged party. It’s unreal. |
Anonymous
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Seems like the kids from the very expensive college like to shoplift from local businesses. And apparently the college doesn’t see that as a problem.
Maybe now they will. |
Anonymous
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The ultimate irony would be if this judgment against the College ends up bankrupting it and leading to its demise, which would decimate the town of Oberlin and its businesses, including the bakery.
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Anonymous
Oberlin was ready to bankrupt the bakery based on lies. Oberlin College Hit With $6.5 Million In Attorney's Fees The latest blow to the college occurred earlier this month when the judge hit Oberlin with $6.5 million dollars in attorney’s fees in addition to the $25 million dollars it already owes in compensatory and punitive damages. Oberlin may have to dip into restricted funds and make people unhappy. They have plenty of money. They just don’t want to pay. |
Anonymous
Have you actually been to Oberlin, Ohio? Outside the university? I have family there. That town has far more to lose than the University does. |
Anonymous
Their endowment is around $900 million. Not gonna bankrupt them. |
Anonymous
| In 2017 they had budget problems due to missed enrollment estimates. Unknown whether this most recent event will cause similar problems next year. |
Anonymous
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I don't think this mean what you think it means.
This is an appeal bond to keep the Bakery from being able to pursue Oberlin's assets while the appeal in pending, and it is utterly routine. An appeal could potentially take years, and Oberlin doesn't want to let the Bakery take the money now and then have to fight to get it back if the judgments is overturned (because what are the odds this Bakery will still have $36 million in cash lying around in a few years?). But the Bakery also doesn't want to take the risk that Oberlin will deplete all of its assets in those three years. Granted, an institution like Oberlin is unlikely to do that, but in your more routine civil case between individuals, lots of people would rather get rid of their money the way they want (making themselves judgment-proof) than hand it over to someone they've been fighting with. So instead of paying now, Oberlin contacts a bond company. They pay the bond company a certain amount (probably 10% or less), and the bond company files an agreement with the court that when/if the judgment needs to be paid after the appear is done, they will pay it if Oberlin doesn't. The Bakery doesn't get the money now, but it knows the money is secure if they win on appeal, so it's better than nothing for them. If Oberlin wins, or if it loses but Oberlin pays the judgment, the bond company keeps the amount Oberlin puts up and everyone goes home. If Oberlin loses on appeal and fails to pay the judgment, the bond company pays it and then chases Oberlin for the recovery. |
Anonymous
+100 Looks like Oberlin is getting a large dose of cosmic karma. |
Anonymous
I have a sibling employed at Oberlin. |
Anonymous
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I still don't understand the tort here.
Did Oberlin administrators officially declare that the bakery is "racist"? Oberlin has zero control over what its adult students decide to protest (or not protest). Oberlin cancelled its contract with the bakery. But that in itself does not constitute slander. Someone please explain to me how Oberlin THE INSTITUTION is culpable? |
Anonymous
An African-American Oberlin student, Jonathan Aladan, went to Gibson’s Bakery and attempted to leave with two wine bottles under his shirt. The shop-owner’s grandson, Allyn Gibson, called the police and then apprehended the student outside the store, leading to a fight, which, later, also involved two black females. The police broke it up, arrested all three students and charged them with crimes – they later pleaded guilty, and made statements absolving Gibson’s of any misconduct or racial animus. Immediately after the shoplifting arrests, Oberlin students began accusing the bakery of racial profiling. They launched protests, handing out fliers telling people ‘DON’T BUY’ and alleging that the bakery was ‘a RACIST establishment with a LONG ACCOUNT of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION’. They also began spreading rumours in the town that Aladan was ‘assaualted’ by Gibson even though, when the police arrived, they found the students punching and kicking Gibson. Leaflets recommended 10 rival businesses to which patrons could go instead. But such a stance misses a major part of the story – Oberlin hasn’t been punished for the actions of its students. Rather, the college itself has been found responsible for getting involved with the smear campaign against Gibson’s. The court found against the college’s administration, and particularly against its vice-president and dean of students, Meredith Raimondo, because they actively supported the protestors – it’s not necessarily the case that the administrators were leading any campaign against the bakery, but they were certainly working closely together. Raimondo helped to orchestrate the protest, speaking on a bullhorn and handing out the aforementioned fliers (protestors were allowed access to administration offices to make more copies). Students were attended the protest were excused from classes, and officials provided free pizza and drinks for them. A Facebook post by an Oberlin academic department stated that “Gibson’s has been bad for decades, their dislike of Black people is palpable. Their food is rotten and they profile Black students. NO MORE!” A few weeks later, Raimondo ordered the college’s cafeteria to stop buying food from Gibson’s – another official tried to use this as leverage against the bakery, stating that “once the charges are dropped, orders will resume”. The chief of staff, Ferdinand Protzman, also suggested another reason for this – the administration feared that the students would create a “tantrum” on campus, especially in the cafeteria during dinner, by throwing Gibson’s food on the floor and stomping on it. “Doesn’t that sound more like a nursery school than a college?” asked the bakery’s lawyer. Because of the college’s war against them, Gibson’s claimed that they suffered damage to their reputation, economic welfare and community standing, and the jury appeared to agree with them. Their sales dropped by roughly 50%, forcing staffing cuts, and many of the family members had to work without pay. Some of their employees had their tyres slashed. On multiple occasions, they tried to settle with Oberlin but, after constant refusals, were forced to bring about a lawsuit. Members of the local community also turned out to support the bakery, and to argue against any suggestion of racial bias. Over a five-year period, 40 people were charged with shoplifting from Gibson’s, 6 of whom were African-American (percentage-wise, exactly matching Oberlin’s 15% black population). Across the town, 83% of all shoplifting arrests were Oberlin students – in 2017, the ‘Culture of Theft’ was even discussed fondly in the school’s magazine. One local bookstore owner said that she loses $10,000 a year in stolen goods to Oberlin students. https://theboar.org/2019/07/oberlin-and-the-us-culture-war/ |