After five years of lawsuits and appeals, Oberlin College has paid out $36.59 million to a bakery it accused of being "racist" for arresting a black student who tried to steal from the establishment. The indemnity covers the damages suffered by the establishment as a result of the "defamation", as well as legal costs and interest.
In 2016, three black students - one boy and two girls - from Oberlin College entered the Gibson Bakery and Grocery Store to purchase alcohol, despite being under the minimum age at the time. Not only did the owner's son notice this fact, but he noticed that Elijah Aladin was hiding more booze under his clothes. After trying to restrain him, he was beaten by the teenagers until the police arrived and arrested them. The girls were charged with assault and were able to get out on bail, but Aladin had to wait in jail for the verdict of the unarmed robbery trial.
The deputy dean of students spurred the protests
Far from leaving it at that, Oberlin College itself took matters into its own hands and accused the store of being "racist." The police themselves noted that they had found no indication of racism in the actions of the owners or workers of the modest establishment. Students, spurred on by then Dean of Students, Meredith Raimondo, began holding protest demonstrations in front of the bakery handing out flyers labeling the bakery a "RACIST establishment with a LONG RECUIT of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION." The university stopped buying products from the bakery. Oberlin supported the demonstrators by printing the leaflets and providing them with food.
Faced with the damage caused - theestablishment had to lay off seven of its eight employees and bordered on closure as students and Oberlin himself were its main customers - the Gibsons filed a defamation lawsuit in 2017. A jury agreed with them and ordered Oberlin to pay $44 million to the bakery, which a judge reduced to $25 million. Subsequently, another court ordered the University to pay an additional US$6.5 million in legal costs.
The owners died before payment
After an attempt to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court - which declared itself not to have jurisdiction - Oberlin claimed, in statements to Fox News, that he had made the $36 million payment (including interest). The bakery owners' attorney, Brandon McHugh, confirmed that his clients had received the money: "We can confirm that all funds have been disbursed and that the family is continuing the process of rebuilding Gibson's Bakery for the next generations." Something that neither the father, Allyn Gibson, nor his son David, got to see. Allyn passed away in February of this year at the age of 93. His son David died in 2019, at the age of 65.
Despicable. Woke @oberlincollege FINALLY pays out $25M to Ohio family bakery it tried to destroy with false accusations of racism in 2017. Father and son owners have since died.
https://t.co/zBvgabsseH https://t.co/HTwIK6TImA— Julie Gunlock (@JGunlock) December 16, 2022
