The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: Muddling 2 on June 08, 2019, 05:50:40 PM
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$11 million verdict>
Oh, my.
"A jury has awarded Gibson’s Bakery and its owners $11 million in compensatory damages against Oberlin College, for libel, intentional interference with business, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The punitive damage hearing next week could add another $22 million, bringing the total to $33 million.
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There will be post-trial motions to set aside the jury verdict and/or reduce the dollar amounts, and then appeals. So while the Gibson family won a major victory, it is not over.
An obvious question, and one a lot of people have been asking, is whether the college has liability insurance to cover the verdict.
Based on court filings obtained by Legal Insurrection Foundation, it appears that the insurer, Lexington Insurance Company, is likely to disclaim coverage for the intentional torts which gave rise to the verdict.
The likelihood of refusal to cover the verdict was revealed in a May 1, 2019, Motion to Intervene (pdf.)(full embed at bottom of post) filed by Lexington Insurance Company.
The purpose of the motion, according to Lexington, was “for the limited purpose of submitting interrogatories to the jury in order to determine facts at issue in this action that would impact coverage under its policy.”
Here is an excerpt from Lexington’s motion setting forth the nature of the insurance coverage (emphasis added):
Lexington issued a Commercial Umbrella Liability policy that potentially provides coverage to defendants Oberlin College aka Oberlin College and Conservatory (“Oberlin”) and Meredith Raimondo for certain damages in this action. Lexington seeks intervention in this action for the limited purpose of submitting interrogatories to the jury in order to determine facts at issue in this action that would impact coverage under its policy.
The Lexington policy does not provide coverage for “bodily injury” or “property damage” intentionally caused by defendants. While the Lexington policy potentially provides coverage in relation to “personal and advertising injury,” defined to include defamation and/or disparagement in certain circumstances, the Lexington policy excludes any such coverage if “personal and advertising injury” is caused “with the knowledge that the act would violate the rights of another … ,” or if the insured published material it knew to be false. Further, the Lexington policy provides coverage for punitive damages insurable by law, but only where the corresponding award of compensatory damages is also covered by the Lexington policy. In this action, plaintiffs Gibson Bros., Inc., Allyn Gibson, and David Gibson allege that defendants Oberlin and Ms. Raimondo published material that falsely characterized the bakery owned by plaintiffs (“Gibson’s”) as being a racist establishment. While such allegations potentially implicate “personal and advertising injury,” plaintiffs also alleged that the statements were published with malice, were intended to injure plaintiffs’ business reputation, and were part of a purported campaign to harm plaintiffs. If it is established that the defendants knew the alleged statements were false, or if the defendants knew their alleged acts would violate plaintiffs’ rights, the Lexington policy would exclude coverage for any resultant damage. Thus, Lexington seeks to intervene in order to submit jury interrogatories to determine the extent of the defendants’ knowledge in relation to the alleged publications.
Further, the Lexington policy provides coverage for punitive damages only when the punitive damages are assessed relative to covered compensatory damages. Here, plaintiffs seek punitive damages for the claims of libel, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with business, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and trespass. Only the libel claim is potentially embraced by the Lexington policy. Thus, Lexington seeks to intervene in order to submit jury interrogatories and instructions to determine what punitive damages, if any, correspond to each cause of action."
Balance of article at the link: https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/06/exclusive-oberlin-college-insurer-likely-to-reject-coverage-for-gibson-bakery-11-million-verdict/
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In addition to the policy terms excluding paying for judgments for tortious behavior, state law may also forbid insurance covering such behavior.
Oberlin needs to have its endowment diminished if it slanders/libels people.
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What got Oberlin College sued.
COPS AND COURTS Oberlin police chief: Riot team was almost called for Gibson's Bakery protest
http://www.chroniclet.com/cops-and-courts/2019/05/11/Oberlin-police-chief-Riot-team-was-almost-called-for-Gibson-39-s-Bakery-protest.html
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ELYRIA — As the November 2016 protests outside of Gibson’s Bakery by Oberlin College students continued to escalate, Oberlin police considered calling in the county’s riot team to break up the crowd, a former Oberlin police sergeant testified.
Victor Ortiz, who was with Oberlin police at the time of the protests, said he and other officers were at the scene of the protests to try to maintain order. As a sergeant, Ortiz said other officers from the department were coming to him for direction.
“The officers would come to me and say, ‘Hey, this is really disorderly; we should make arrests,’ and I said, ‘Absolutely not,’” Ortiz testified. “We were so far outnumbered; there was no way. That would have been like putting gasoline on a fire.”
Here is an interesting part.
The incident became racially charged because Allyn Gibson is white and the students are black. All three students pleaded guilty in August to misdemeanor charges and read statements into the record acknowledging that Allyn Gibson was within his right to detain the shoplifter and that his actions were not racially motivated.
Henry Wallace, who retired from the Oberlin Police Department in December after years of serving as a community service officer, said he was in Gibson’s Bakery “basically daily.”
Wallace, who is black, said he’s never felt a hint of racism while at the bakery.
Oberlin College fined $11M in bakery racial profiling case
https://nypost.com/2019/06/07/oberlin-college-fined-11m-in-bakery-racial-profiling-case/
An Ohio jury on Friday slapped Oberlin College with an $11.2 million damages penalty for siding with three black students who had claimed they were victims of racial profiling after they were caught shoplifting in 2016, a report said.
The liberal arts college must pay the massive compensatory damages award to the family-owned Gibson’s Bakery, where the three students had been arrested for attempting to steal or buy alcohol with a false ID.
The arrests were met with massive protests by students and faculty at the school.
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I think this is amazing, The Oberlin (Institution) departed it's declaed purpose as an
educational institution, to become a racist tainted, crowd mongering political institution.
Any moneys awarded the defendants in this action should come directly out of the
Colleges funds, not Lexington (which is what lexington in inferring). Should the
award cause damage to the colleges ability to operate at it's current level, should
be sufficient reason for the Trustee's to dismiss the educators (communist rable rousers).
Oh! with prejudice
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Oberlin College Still Refusing to Pay $33 Million in Damages to Bakery it Slandered as Racist
https://www.breitbart.com/education/2022/04/11/oberlin-college-still-refusing-to-pay-33-million-in-damages-to-bakery-it-slandered-as-racist/
Oberlin College in Ohio has refused to pay its owed $33 million in court-ordered damage to a family-owned bakery slandered as racist.
An Ohio court ordered Oberlin College to pay Gibson’s Bakery up to $33 million for defamation damages in 2019 after the college’s dean of students orchestrated a woke mob into slandering the family as racists for calling the police on three black students for shoplifting a bottle of wine. The money was to be paid to the bakery by April 1, but the college has refused to pay it despite the fact that two of the plaintiffs are now deceased.
On November 9, 2016, just one day after the election of President Donald Trump, Jonathan Aladin, a black Oberlin student, was caught stealing a bottle of wine by Allyn Gibson, a white employee of Gibson’s Bakery.
Oberlin College has not paid a single penny to Gibson's Bakery.
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Oberlin College Still Refusing to Pay $33 Million in Damages to Bakery it Slandered as Racist
https://www.breitbart.com/education/2022/04/11/oberlin-college-still-refusing-to-pay-33-million-in-damages-to-bakery-it-slandered-as-racist/
Oberlin College has not paid a single penny to Gibson's Bakery.
Well, that's what jails are for. I think the term is "contempt of court" and it could result in more charges levied against the school leftist indoctrination center.
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Woke Oberlin College Faces $4M in Interest After Refusing to Pay Damages to Bakery It Slandered
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2022/07/11/woke-oberlin-college-faces-4m-in-interest-after-refusing-to-pay-damages-to-bakery-it-slandered/
Oberlin College is facing $4 million in interest charges after refusing to pay $33 million in court-ordered defamation damages to a mom-and-pop bakery that it slandered as racist.
Gibson’s Bakery is reportedly struggling to survive after Oberlin College students and dean of students Meredith Raimondo falsely accused the business of racism.
Moreover, students are continuing to boycott the 137 year-old bakery, despite the allegations being proven false.
To make matters worse, the woke Ohio college is not paying its court-ordered damage to Gibson’s Bakery.
Oberlin College has not paid Gibson's Bakery yet. Interests are accumulating to a total of $37 million.
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All hail the Assistant music-teacher Capitol of the Galaxy.
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Wouldn't break my heart to see this communist "Utopia" go belly up.
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The bakery needs to get a lien on the place and shut it down. :thatsright:
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The bakery needs to get a lien on the place and shut it down. :thatsright:
The Judge can give the bakery the powers of a Trustee until the award is paid. They can make decisions for Oberlin, if that's what Oberlin wants.
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Gibson’s Bakery “May Only Survive for the Next Couple of Months,” Pleads With Court To Collect Against Oberlin College
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/07/gibsons-bakery-may-only-survive-for-the-next-couple-of-months-pleads-with-court-to-collect-against-oberlin-college/
It is over 3 years since Gibson’s Bakery obtained judgment against Oberlin College for almost $32 million, which with accumulated interest nears $36 million, the amount of a bond posted by the college through Zurich American Insurance to secure the judgment.
Neither “Grandpa” Allyn Gibson nor his son David Gibson lived to see the Gibson family collect. They both passed away, as Oberlin College waited them out.
Oberlin College has done everything possible to delay the Gibson’s getting the money, including an appeal which the college lost and another appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, which has not yet ruled on whether it will hear the case. Because the appellate court ruling affirming the judgment included a mandate that the trial court “execute” on the judgment, the Gibsons moved in the trial court to collect the bond. The college then sought a stay from the Ohio Supreme Court. Neither the trial court nor the Ohio Supreme Court have ruled on the motions as of this writing, so the Gibson’s attempt to collect on the bond is in limbo.
Gibson's Bakery has not seen a single penny from Oberlin. Oberlin has to pay $36 million including interest.
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Think of all the leftists Oberlin can hire for that kind of money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYNUOkqzcVA
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Think of all the leftists Oberlin can hire for that kind of money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYNUOkqzcVA
Yep.
Thousands of snotty Charbucks barristas with a complete inability to retain order details, make change correctly, or get off their damned cell phones long enough to do the effing job they applied for. All with Masters degrees in Womyn's Art History and a quarter million dollars in student loan debt apiece.
:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
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OHIO COURT TO OBERLIN COLLEGE: PAY UP
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/08/ohio-court-to-oberlin-college-pay-up.php (https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/08/ohio-court-to-oberlin-college-pay-up.php)
Today the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Oberlin’s appeal, which is likely the end of the line for the deadbeats at Oberlin College. William Jacobson, who has covered this case in the most detail since the beginning over at Legal Insurrection, reports today:
Hopefully the long, hard road Gibson’s Bakery has traveled in its fight with Oberlin College has come to an end.
The Ohio Supreme Court just refused to accept jurisdiction over Oberlin College’s appeal (the Court also refused to hear the Gibsons’ appeal seeking to reinstate the full punitive damages award). It was a 4-3 decision, and it means the Gibsons now can collect approximately $36 million. . .
Several commenters mention Oberlin College going to federal court. That is a long, long, long shot. The appeal would be from the Ohio Supreme Court to the U.S. Supreme Court. The likelihood the U.S. Supreme Court would agree to hear a case the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear is not zero, but it’s approaching zero. I would not be shocked if they tried, but they would have to obtain another stay of enforcement of the judgment from the U.S. Supreme Court, another major hurdle that has little likelihood of success.
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OHIO COURT TO OBERLIN COLLEGE: PAY UP
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/08/ohio-court-to-oberlin-college-pay-up.php (https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/08/ohio-court-to-oberlin-college-pay-up.php)
Great news!!!!!
:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
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Good news, indeed.
Maybe Oberlin will have to shut down the 6,458 "safe spaces" they've put up around the campus for the snowflakes. Hey, gotta get the money from somewhere. It costs money to outfit safe spaces with kleenex (for the crying) and Xanax (for the whining).
The snowflakes will surely melt. :-)
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A cynic on another board suggested that the Gibsons would have to go with a Sheriff to enforce the judgment. If it comes to that I hope they first target Oberlin's servers, network hardware, and desktops & laptops. That should cripple the college to an almost existential degree.
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Haven't heard whether Oberlin will try to jump to Federal court our will try to defy the verdict, but this gives a summation of what happened and where things stand:
How Oberlin’s slander put our family through hell
https://nypost.com/2022/09/01/how-oberlins-slander-put-our-family-through-hell/ (https://nypost.com/2022/09/01/how-oberlins-slander-put-our-family-through-hell/)
On the night of Nov., 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected president and the country was forever changed. But for my family, it was the following night — Nov. 9, 2016 — that our world was turned upside down and has never been set right.
Late that night, my husband, David, came home from work and told me that there had been a shoplifting incident at our bakery, Gibson’s. We’ve been in business for 137 years, so we’ve had our fair share of shoplifters, including earlier that very week. That particular night, a student from the local college, Oberlin, had tried to steal two bottles of wine and use a fake ID to buy a third. Our son, Allyn, had pursued him across the street. Two more students got involved. Allyn was beaten up pretty badly, and the three students were arrested.
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Before Nov. 9, our relationship to the school had been wonderful. We delivered pizza dough, bagels and cookies to the dining halls every day. We did pie and ice-cream socials for parents’ weekend and pastry trays for parties. I worked as a nurse at a local hospital until 2002, but if there were a large order, I’d often help David deliver the trays of baked goods to campus.
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David met with the president of the school, along with other administrators, to try to get Oberlin to retract its baseless claims that we were racist and to quell the small group of students who, in their passion, had gotten us so wrong. But Oberlin would not even consider issuing a statement and allowed the public to believe that we were in fact “racist.”
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To add onto everything else, six months before the trial began, my husband, David, was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. He was still working from 7 in the morning to 11 at night, but the cancer treatments were brutal. Once the trial started, David decided to pause the treatments so he could be as strong as possible in court. It was important to him that the jury not find out that he was sick. He wanted the case to be decided on the basis of the facts alone.
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But after the verdict was handed down, David and I left Oberlin to seek treatment for his cancer at bigger hospitals in the South and in New York. We found out that the cancer had spread during the trial, and that we had no recourse. Before he died in 2019, David asked me to keep the store going. “Just keep the doors open, no matter what,” he said. He gave his life for the store, and I promised him that I would do everything I could to honor his final wish.
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If I got the money from the college, I wouldn’t buy a house, or go on vacation, or leave Ohio. I would replace the compressors for the refrigerators and replace the fryers and proofers that we use for our dough. I would pay off the mortgages on my properties that I’ve taken out in the past few years. I’d hire back employees and ramp up production.
While the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent decision has made us hopeful, if the money doesn’t come through within the next couple months, I’ll be forced to declare bankruptcy and shut the doors of Gibson’s for good.
Given Oberlin's early history, Oberlin's descent into scumhood has been long, deep, and sad.
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Oberlin College Still Refusing to Pay $33 Million in Damages to Bakery it Slandered as Racist
https://www.breitbart.com/education/2022/04/11/oberlin-college-still-refusing-to-pay-33-million-in-damages-to-bakery-it-slandered-as-racist/
Oberlin College has not paid a single penny to Gibson's Bakery.
Any smart lawyer knows how to start leining bank accounts and if need be, real property. I think the plaintiff's lawyers are letting Oberlin twist in the wind and gemerate millions in interest.
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Any smart lawyer knows how to start leining bank accounts and if need be, real property. I think the plaintiff's lawyers are letting Oberlin twist in the wind and gemerate millions in interest.
That's all well and good, but we all know that cute tricks like that benefit the LAWYER and not necessarily the client. She needs the money now, not when some attorney decides it's time.
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Oberlin College “has initiated payment in full of the $36.59 million judgment in the Gibson’s Bakery case”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/09/oberlin-college-has-initiated-payment-in-full-of-the-36-59-million-judgment-in-the-gibsons-bakery-case/ (https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/09/oberlin-college-has-initiated-payment-in-full-of-the-36-59-million-judgment-in-the-gibsons-bakery-case/)
It looks like the Gibson family’s long struggle with Oberlin College is over, and the college will pay the judgment it has been fighting for years. Unfortunately, David Gibson (featured image) and “Grandpa” Allyn Gibson did not live to see it, having passed away after the trial verdict.
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Oberlin College and Conservatory has initiated payment in full of the $36.59 million judgment in the Gibson’s Bakery case and is awaiting payment information from the plaintiffs. This amount represents awarded damages and accumulated interest, and therefore no further payments are required.
On August 30, the Ohio Supreme Court issued its decision not to hear Oberlin’s appeal. Oberlin’s Board of Trustees has decided not to pursue the matter further.
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Notice what is not in the statement: An apology. Oberlin College still appears not to understand or accept what it did wrong. It considers itself the victim.
(added) There also was no apology, instead a dismissive attitude, in a mass email sent by the president of the college (emphasis added):
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Notice what is not in the statement: An apology. Oberlin College still appears not to understand or accept what it did wrong. It considers itself the victim.
(added) There also was no apology, instead a dismissive attitude, in a mass email sent by the president of the college (emphasis added):
Hmmm...
Well, better they pay begrudgingly than never.
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I just wish that $35M-$50M gutted Oberlin's endowment back to the Charles G. Finney days.
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Yep. Even Finney would agree that salvation doesn't extend to those who reject decency and respect for others' property.
All the same, how delicious it would be if Soros were financing some of Oberlin's endowments. If so, he'd be paying against himself.
Oberlin does have a world-class music conservatory. Too bad it seems to be chock-full of wokesters.
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Finally, The Gibson’s Bakery Family Has Been Paid By Oberlin College
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/12/finally-the-gibsons-bakery-family-has-been-paid-by-oberlin-college/ (https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/12/finally-the-gibsons-bakery-family-has-been-paid-by-oberlin-college/)
The last we checked in on Gibson’s Bakery v. Oberlin College, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear Oberlin College’s appeal, ending the college’s fight to overturn the massive jury verdict. The $25 million verdict plus interest and attorney’s fees resulted in an almost $32 million judgment, with interest running at about $4000 per day since June 2019. In all, over $36 million was owed, secured by an appeal bond.
While Oberlin College announced, after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled, that it had agreed to pay the judgment, in fact it did so out of legal compulsion, not good faith. The Gibsons were poised to execute on the appeal bond. As we noted at the time, Oberlin College, even in legal defeat, refused to apologize or acknowledge it did anything wrong:
Paid, past tense. Hopefully the Gibson family has the ability to move to a less hostile city if Oberlin is too hostile.
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With a payout that large, the Gibson family could just retire (if they choose to), and continue living in Oberlin giving the college the one-fingered salute:
:bigbird:
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IMO, and I have no $$ at stake, a better one-fingered salute to Oberlin College would be successfully recreating the bakery using Oberlin's $$.
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IMO, and I have no $$ at stake, a better one-fingered salute to Oberlin College would be successfully recreating the bakery using Oberlin's $$.
I'll go you one better and have the Gibsons create an online bakery, avoiding the brick-n-mortar thing altogether, which was the issue to begin with -- black students shoplifting.
Nothing to torch, nothing to burn down, nothing to destroy. Win for the Gibsons, lose for Oberlin and their snowflake students.
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Oberlin College Sues Insurers For Refusing To Cover $36 Million It Paid Gibson’s Bakery For Defamation And Other Torts (Update)
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/08/oberlin-college-sues-insurers-for-refusing-to-cover-36-million-it-paid-gibsons-bakery-for-defamation-and-other-torts/
After a six year struggle, in December 2022 Gibson’s Bakery finally was paid by Oberlin College a total of $36 million, representing a judgment of approximately $32 million plus post judgment interest. We covered the payment on December 11, 2022, Finally, The Gibson’s Bakery Family Has Been Paid By Oberlin College.
It was a six year struggle for the Gibson family, which saw Grandpa Allyn Gibson and David Gibson pass away after the trial but before the appeals were concluded.
It was a six year journey for us as well, as we covered the case almost since the inception of the protests outside the bakery in November 2016, after a black Oberlin College student was stopped for shoplifting. (He was in fact shoplifting.) The ensuing accusations by the college that the bakery had a long history of racial profiling led to a lawsuit, trial, appeals, and ultimately payment. We were there the whole way:
Oberlin College is suing insurance companies for not covering their legal fees.
The case is assigned to Judge Chris Cook, who was not the trial judge (that was John Miraldi). The Chronicle-Telegram quotes and paraphrase various aspects of the pleadings:
At the time of the events that led to the Gibsons lawsuit, Oberlin College said it had insurance policies providing “at least $75 million in total insurance coverage, which is more than enough to pay the underlying judgment and substantial unpaid defense costs” it incurred in the nearly six-year legal battle.
The college got $1 million from one of its insurance companies, but “also incurred millions of dollars in defense costs pursuing its appeals,” according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit did not give an exact dollar amount the college spent on legal fees.
Oberlin College’s insurance policies included $25 million in commercial umbrella liability coverage from Lexington; $10 million from Mount Hawley; $5 million from StarStone; and $25 million in overlapping educators legal liability coverage from United Educators, according to the lawsuit.
“These policies were intended to provide seamless coverage for lawsuits like the Gibson litigation,” according to the lawsuit. “Unfortunately, the defendant insurers have failed to pay a penny toward the $36,590,572.48 sum that Oberlin paid the Gibson plaintiffs. They also have failed to pay for the full cost of Oberlin’s appeals, which were pursued at the behest of the insurers in order to reduce their collective exposure.”
The insurers allegedly told the college that “some, if not all, of the damages” would be covered, according to the lawsuit.
Insted, Lexington and United Educators allegedly “engaged in a systematic, multi-year effort to avoid their coverage obligations by attempting to shift responsibility from the Gibson lawsuit to each other,” other insurance companies or the college, according to the lawsuit.
Lexington and United Educators also allegedly “both had numerous pretrial opportunities to resolve the underlying litigation for a small fraction of the eventual verdict” and could have settled the case for for less than $10 million on the eve of trial, according to the lawsuit. The college had even demanded the insurance companies do so, according to the lawsuit.
None of them did, according to the lawsuit, with Lexington failing to pay “a single cent” and Oberlin College facing “complete abandonment” by United Educators.
Mediation between the college and United Educators failed in early 2021, and the insurance company refuse to renew Oberlin College’s policy after a 34-year policyholder relationship, according to the lawsuit.