Oberlin socked for $33 million in punitive damages
Bakery skirmish grew into lengthy legal fight
ELYRIA, Ohio — Family members at the center of a defamation lawsuit against Oberlin College hugged in celebration Thursday after a jury awarded them $33 million in punitive damages on top of the $11 million compensatory award they’re already owed by the liberal arts school.
The punitive damages — money awarded to plaintiffs in a lawsuit to punish defendants and deter future bad conduct — were broken down by the jury into $17.5 million for David Gibson, $8.75 million for family patriarch Allyn Gibson, and $6.97 million for their company, Gibson Bros. Inc.
The family sued Oberlin after an incident on Nov. 9, 2016, in which a black college student attempted to shoplift wine from Gibson’s Bakery. A grandson of the family also named Allyn Gibson, who is white, followed the student out, leading to a physical altercation in front of the store. The student and two friends — also black — were arrested.
Protests erupted on campus in the days following, with students claiming the robbery charge and subsequent conflict were racially motivated, as well as claiming a history of racial profiling in the store.
The arrested students later backtracked on those claims and pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in court, and the Gibsons brought a lawsuit against both Oberlin
of Students Meredith Raimondo. The suit alleged libel and accused the school of supporting the students’ harmful actions and cutting economic ties with the bakery.
Last week, a jury in Lorain County Common Pleas Court ruled in favor of the Gibsons, awarding them $11 million for past and future economic and noneconomic harm and loss. Oberlin’s financial hit grew substantially Thursday, when the institution was ordered to pay the punitive damages — plus undetermined attorney fees.
“For a family like ours, when you are in small business, your business, your family, your reputation is all one . ... That’s what takes us to the next day, and we’re proud of it,” David Gibson said after the verdict.
The Gibsons’ attorneys underscored that punitive damages are meant to discourage not only Oberlin, but any other institution from committing similar acts.
Oberlin attorney Rachelle Zidar had argued that a punitive damages award is not necessary to motivate change, as the college and its dean have already learned from the experience.
She also had told jurors that punitive damages would “impact people who have nothing to do” with the trial, including employees and future students on financial aid.
In Ohio, a cap ensures that a punitive award is no more than double the amount of compensatory damages — which in this case would mean a punishment of $22 million or less. Since the award of $33.2 million is above the cap, family lead attorney Lee Plakas said he expects motions to be filed to lower it.
A contentious piece of evidence during the trial was a flyer printed and handed out by students during the 2016 protests against Gibson’s Bakery. The flyer read “DON’T BUY” and stated “This is a RACIST establishment with a long account of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION. Today we urge you to shop elsewhere in light of a particularly heinous event involving the owners of this establishment and local law enforcement.”
In their original complaint, the Gibson family accused the school of being involved with the preparation and publication of the flyer and accused Ms. Raimondo of personally handing them out.
Oberlin attorneys argued that students published the flyer and that for administrators — those with decision-making power and those on trial — the flyer “could not possibly” constitute actual malice on their behalf.
Also widely discussed as evidence was the temporary suspension of Oberlin’s daily order from Gibson’s Bakery. On Nov. 14, 2016, Ms. Raimondo stopped the orders, beginning a suspension that lasted until January 20, 2017.
Ms. Zidar argued that the college’s temporary suspension of orders with the bakery was an attempt to “press the pause button,” not an attempt to injure the Gibson family. She also told the jury Wednesday that the school had made changes even before the trial started. It had started more closely monitoring the activities of student organizations, including the college’s response to protests.
In hearing evidence for the punitive damages phase, the Gibsons’ legal team capitalized on an argument that was disallowed in the compensatory phase of the trial: Oberlin College’s wealth.
Gibson attorney Owen Rarric pointed out that the college has more than $1.4 billion in total assets. He said the college’s endowment totals $887 million. He said annual student charges for tuition and room and board are roughly $70,000.
Oberlin attorney Matthew Nakon clarified Mr. Rarric’s numbers, saying the college had been operating in an unsustainable deficit situation year after year — a situation caused largely by substantial declines in enrollment. Mr. Nakon said outside a small portion — less than $50 million of the endowment — the college had little to no discretion over how the endowment was spent.
After the hearing, Mr. Rarric said truth had prevailed.
“When powerful institutions follow their agendas rather than the truth ... and when they inflict harm on members of the community and don’t accept responsibility for that harm, every once in a while you’re going to have some brave souls — like the Gibson family and this jury — who will say, ‘Enough is enough,’” he said. “[They] will say, ‘We’re not going to tolerate this in our society’ and that ‘We’re going to hold you accountable.’”
But Kameron Dunbar, a member of Oberlin’s 2019 graduating class and communications chairman for the student senate at the time of the protests, said the outcome of the case should not be celebrated.
“It brings about concerns of free speech principles — specifically the right of students to assemble for protests, the repercussions for institutions, the liability of an institution that doesn’t censor its members’ speech,” she said. “I think those are real questions.”
Lawyers for Oberlin said they could not comment after the trial.