Gibson's Bakery | The Ohio Star

Still Reeling from $36 Million Defamation Judgment, Oberlin Risks New Suit from Censored Coach

September 15, 2023September 15, 2023 Just the News

A year after Oberlin College finally agreed to pay more than $36 million to family-owned Gibson’s Bakery under a defamation judgment — dragging out appeals until both father and son had died — the Ohio liberal arts school is facing new allegations of character assassination.

Administrators have tried to silence head women’s lacrosse coach Kim Russell about gender ideology’s threat to women’s sports since she questioned transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’s victory in the NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle last year, she claims.

Oberlin College Sues Insurers to Recoup $36 Million in Damages Paid to Local Ohio Bakery it Defamed

August 7, 2023August 7, 2023 Ohio Star Staff

Oberlin College sued its insurers for refusal to pay the $36.6 million in damages the liberal school paid to end a six-year legal battle after it defamed a local bakery as “racist” after a store employee chased out of the store several black individuals who stole wine.

Oberlin University Adds Risk Manager After Gibson’s Bakery and Other Lawsuits

May 8, 2023May 7, 2023 Admin

Oberlin College’s record on lawsuits is so bad that it hired a new role this school year – a dedicated risk manager.

The college most famously paid out $36.6 million to local Gibson’s Bakery after its administrators were found complicit in damaging and false accusations of racism against the town staple. The damaging accusations of racism came after a bakery employee chased several black individuals who stole alcohol in November 2016 out of the store.

Oberlin College Pays Out Millions After Launching Defamation Campaign Against Bakery

September 10, 2022September 9, 2022 Admin

Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, announced Thursday that it will pay a local bakery $36.59 million after a legal defamation battle.

The lawsuit began in 2016, when Allyn Gibson Jr. accused a black student of stealing a bottle of wine from Gibson’s Bakery, causing the college to launch a defamation campaign which included the vice president of the college calling the bakery racist. The Ohio Supreme Court declined the college’s appeal of a court’s previous judgment, causing the college to decide Thursday to pay the bakery.

Ohio Supreme Court Rules for Gibson’s Bakery over Oberlin College

August 31, 2022August 30, 2022 Bradley Vasoli

Ohio’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with Gibson’s Bakery in its libel case against Oberlin College, declining to hear the school’s appeal and permitting the family-owned establishment to collect over $36 million in damages.

The litigation against Oberlin and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo stemmed from uncorroborated accusations of racism that the Gibson family believes initially cost their store half its patronage. In June 2019, a Lorain County court ordered the school to pay the bakers $32 million. About $4.5 million in interest has accumulated since that ruling.

Commentary: Oberlin Learns a $31 Million Lesson for Falsely Accusing a Local Family Business of Racism

June 13, 2022June 13, 2022 Ohio Star Staff

On March 31, 2022, an Ohio Appeals Court upheld a lower court verdict against Oberlin College awarding $31.2 million to a local bakery on the grounds that, among other things, the College and its Dean of Students defamed the business.

There has been much reporting about the incident that sparked the lawsuit against Oberlin and the potential negative impact of the court’s decision on the rights of students to engage in free speech and protest.

Oberlin Loses Appeal After Defaming Local Bakery

April 2, 2022April 1, 2022 Peter D'Abrosca

An appellate court this week upheld a lower court’s ruling that a local bakery was defamed by Oberlin College, a private liberal arts schools in Ohio.

In 2019, Oberlin was ordered to pay the maximum of $11 million in compensatory damages, $33 million in punitive damages, plus more than $6 million in attorneys fees to Gibson’s Bakery, a town staple that had served students at the school for generations, and even had a contract to sell some of its products to the school.

Gibson’s Bakery Cross-Appeal Brief Seeks Original $33 Million in Punitive Damages from Oberlin College

June 10, 2020June 9, 2020 Zachery Schmidt

Gibson’s Bakery filed a cross-appeal brief Monday after Oberlin College filed its appeals brief last week seeking to overturn a trial court’s decision which made the college pay the bakery $25 million in damages.

The damages relate to Oberlin College making defamatory statements about the bakery after three minority students plead guilty to shoplifting. After these three students plead guilty, Oberlin College students not involved in the case accused Gibson’s Bakery of racial profiling, held protests outside the bakery, and said the store had “a long account of racial profiling and discrimination.”

Oberlin College Accused of Trying to Wait Out Bakery Owner’s Cancer Death

August 9, 2019August 8, 2019 Ohio Star Staff

Dave Gibson, the owner of the bakery that won millions of dollars in a defamation lawsuit against Oberlin College, accused the school on Tuesday of waiting for him and his father to die.

Oberlin College Ordered to Pay $6.5 Million in Attorney’s Fees on Top of $25 Million in Damages

July 21, 2019July 20, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

A judge has ordered Oberlin College to pay $6.5 million in attorney’s fees to the law firm that represented Gibson’s Bakery in its defamation suit against the school. That’s on top of the $25 million in compensatory and punitive damages the school must pay the owners of Gibson’s Bakery.…

Democrat Judge Slashes Damages Oberlin College Must Pay to Gibson’s Bakery for ‘Racist’ Defamation

July 8, 2019July 7, 2019 Ohio Star Staff

by Ethan Cai A Democrat judge nearly halved the damages awarded to a bakery that previously won a lawsuit against Oberlin College for defamation. After Oberlin College filed a motion on June 21 to cap damages given to the bakery, Judge John Miraldi, who ran as a Democrat in…

Oberlin College Hit With Maximum Punitive Damages, Must Pay $33 Million to Gibson’s Bakery

June 14, 2019June 13, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

A jury ordered Oberlin College to pay $33 million in punitive damages Thursday to Gibson’s Bakery, an on-campus business that the school falsely accused of racial profiling. As The Ohio Star reported last week, the Gibson family was awarded $11 million in compensatory damages. State law caps punitive damages…

Legal Expert Says Oberlin College’s Response to Verdict Could Hurt Them in Punitive Damages Hearing

June 10, 2019June 9, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Oberlin College was ordered by a jury last week to pay $11 million in damages to a family bakery on campus that was falsely accused of racial profiling, but the monetary reward could triple during a punitive damages hearing scheduled for Tuesday. As The Ohio Star reported Sunday: The…

Oberlin College Ordered to Pay $11 Million to Bakery it Wrongly Accused of Racism

June 9, 2019June 8, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

A jury has ordered Oberlin College to pay $11 million in damages to a family bakery on its campus that was falsely accused of racial profiling and faced months of student protests. The bakery, called Gibson’s Bakery, has operated on campus since 1885 and had a business relationship with…