Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Oberlin College Hit With Maximum Punitive Damages
The civil judgement against Oberlin College for its SJW mau-mauing of Gibson’s Bakery just tripled from $11 million to $33 million. Thursday, the jury assessed the maximum punitive damages of $22 million against the school. Legal Insurrection has been all over this:
Daniel McGraw, our reporter in the courtroom, reports that in addition to the $11.2 million compensatory damages awarded last Friday, the jury awarded a total of $33 million in punitive damages, which will probably be reduced by the court to $22 million because of the state law cap at twice compensatory (it’s not an absolute cap, but probably will apply here). That brings the total damages to $33 million. We will have the breakdown soon. The jury also awarded attorney’s fees, to be determined by the judge.
Oberlin disregarded the first rule of holes – when you find you have dug yourself into a hole stop digging.
Published in Law
Not at all. I’m an Oberlin grad (1980) and I am happy too. Gibson’s was part of the college – I remember getting donuts and all other kinds of goodies there. Oberlin just lost the Woke Olympics.
Steyer and Soros can pay this off out of petty cash.
No, it doesn’t.
I like my job. A lot. But I’m not sure I could convince myself of the necessity if I had $11 million in the bank. I might want to retire. I’m 67.
Am I glad Oberlin has to pony up a great sum? I am.
Did the Gibsons get what they deserve? A least part of it.
Do I think this Dean will actually suffer? Not nearly enough.
Did the school get so woke they don’t educate as much as indoctrinate? It would seem so.
But…
If the school closes, what about the folks who work there? The maintenance workers, the cooks, the lab assistants, the professors who actually taught the subjects they were hired to teach. While I don’t believe the injustice that was done to the bakery should go unpunished or not be a warning to other institutions, there will be innocents hurt. I wish that were not the case.
For a family-owned business, the availability of interested progeny often determines whether the business stays open.
If the college had apologized to the bakery after the facts had come out, they would not have been sued. Duh.
That’s the line that some of the major news media are emphasizing. I don’t recall them emphasizing that when my employer recently set aside a half billion dollars to pay for legal work and settlements for a big sexual abuse scandal. (I’m thinking of one particular writer at Forbes who has written about both cases, but it wasn’t just him.) A university can’t pay out that kind of money without it affecting innocent people. But that’s the way it goes.
I agree. But $11 million could keep a lot of progeny happy.
I wouldn’t worry. Oberlin is too valuable as a progressive seminary to let it expire. I bet they’d find a way to survive (at $70k/year tuition! plus yuuge endowments) and this is all just squawk in search of sympathy. They’ll get as much from me as they gave to a multi-generational family business.
They work or an institution of evil.
You know what, when I worked at a factory that ignored my advice and shipped a dangerous product because our subcomponents were defective, I and many others got laid off and the company lost 80% of its business. When I worked at a company that was dysfunctional and completely out of control and made computers no one bought, newtons that no one bought, and had really bad lawyers and marketing, a lot of people lost their jobs.
So why should a university not have consequences for immoral behavior? No pity.
The institution of Oberlin failed completely in it’s responsibly to mold moral and thoughtful Professionals. If anything, they encouraged immoral and bigoted behaviour among their students. Maybe the moral and decent students and Professors should consider other options.
Oberlin also didn’t seem to mind putting the bakery out of business. Turn about is fair play. But I very much doubt they will go down over this. Would be delicious if they had to lay off all their diversity staff.
Did anyone see where I didn’t want Oberlin to pony up the $33 mil fore with? No. They deserve to pay.
I know there are injustices in the work world. You don’t even want to hear what I think about GE and their wokeness or stupid ideas. I know the people that lost their jobs because of that. AUDad was greatly encouraged to take early retirement 7 years before he was ready for such idiocy. Maybe because I’m living reminds that I don’t want others to suffer for imbecility they played no part in.
Lighten up, Francis.
GC,
Oh, be still my beating heart. Yesssss!!!
Regards,
Jim
The cost of appealing is far higher than that. The losing party typically must post a bond more or less equal to the judgment, which means Oberlin would have to tie up $30 million for a couple of years, or (more likely) pay a bonding company a fee or a premium for the bond.
So yes; in the end a settlement is likely before the appeal goes too far down the tracks.
And BTW, others have mentioned appeals to the Supreme Court. Ain’t gonna happen. This is not a constitutional or federal rights case. And even if there is some little snippet of federal law at play here, the Supreme Court doesn’t sit to hear such fact-driven cases.
I noticed from the article that these folks have been in business in Oberlin since 1885.
From Legal Insurrection reporting re: appeals
Hell no! I hope this decision forces Oberlin into bankruptcy.
I played football at Denison in the late 1980’s. Oberlin was in our conference. At that time, Oberlin’s entire student body was gay, except for the football team. They prided themselves on being WAY out on the left. A fried of mine who went there for a year said this is not much of an exaggeration.
Was Oberlin as odd in the late ’70’s as it was 10 years later?
Richard C. Meyer, who runs the “Comics Matter with Ya Boi Zack” Youtube channel (who is currently suing a SJW for tortious interference), is fond of saying that these social justice types don’t understand that if they have to go to court, the jury isn’t going to be comprised of the twelve blue checkmark weirdos on Twitter who side with them. Instead, it’s going to be a man who drives a forklift at the navy yard, a woman who waits tables at the Denny’s, the guy who owns and operates the water heater sales and service center, and nine other “normies.” Everyday people are largely ignorant of the culture war, but invariably side against the campus protest nonsense when they catch wind of it.
I’d be happier if they reformed themselves and became liberal. I don’t like all the small colleges going out of business, leaving us with only the big ones.
My younger brother went there for a year in the 1970s. Based on his experience, I would say it was just as fascistic back then, but less gay. (Or maybe he scored as often as he did because he was in the minority of straight male students. Apparently the number of LUGs was lower than it is today.)
Sorry – I’m apparently a bit out of touch – What’s a LUG?
Lesbian until graduation.
You, me, and Huck Finn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9FzVhw8_bY
Hilarity ensues when the sissies complain of being bullied, by bullying others about the bullying subject, when they are in the safest of spaces, and surrounded by other milquetoasty simpering fellas.
I have a suggestion for a new mandate at colleges. Everyone has to buy a mirror, and strap it onto themselves, so they can see their faces at all times. I’m hoping the benefit this brings will become self-evident after say, the average matriculant’s 5th year of indoctrination.
I understand he did not allow the jury to see the notorious email to alumni trashing the verdict. And the jury.
It would be great if Oberlin went kaput. It would be great if roughly a third of our universities went kaput. over 60% of HS grads go to college right now. In Germany and most of Europe that figure is closer to 20% I believe. We have way too many folks in college as students, professors and staff. Lots of mediocre people are doing mediocre things and providing far too little output in relation to the massive investments they receive. Time to stop subsidizing and protecting these fools. The deserving institutions will survive. The Oberlin’s of the world should become a historic footnote ASAP.