Gibsons again demand payment of $36 million judgment

Attorneys for Gibson's Bakery and the Gibson family have once again filed documents with the Ohio Supreme Court opposing Oberlin College's request to halt payment of the more than $36 million the college owes the family and their business after losing a lawsuit. The matter remains on appeal before the state's highest court. It isn't known when the Ohio Supreme Court might hear arguments in the case. "The Gibsons have correctly completed every step necessary to properly execute" a jury's award and Lorain County Common Pleas Judge John Miraldi's 2019 judgment, the family's attorneys wrote in a motion filed with the state's highest court on Tuesday. The family and their 137-year-old business won the largest award ever handed out for libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress and interference with business relationships in 2019. The judgment came almost three years after Oberlin College students protested alleged racism by the bakery and its owners against students of color. Those allegations arose after three students were arrested following a shoplifting incident and assault on a store clerk in November 2016. Jurors found that Oberlin College and its officials, including former Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo, libeled the bakery and co-owners David Gibson and Allyn "Grandpa" Gibson and damaged their reputation by allowing students to declare them racist, hand out flyers and put up unchallenged resolutions on campus saying as much. The college argued it was protecting students' free speech, and a number of free speech organizations, the NAACP and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce have backed those arguments. It's too late for the college to ask the court to rescue it from paying the nearly $32 million in damages and attorney fees Miraldi awarded the Gibsons, plus another $4.5 million in interest and counting, their attorneys wrote. "There is no reason for this court to now entertain Oberlin's motion when its own inaction has already directed the outcome in this matter," the Gibsons argued. An appeals bond the college obtained from Zurich American Insurance Co. to guarantee payment could be made should its appeals fail should immediately be paid to the family and the bakery, the Gibsons argued. The conditions for paying the bond have been met and "immediate payment is due," their attorneys wrote. Miraldi's previous ruling suspending his own judgment doesn't relieve Oberlin College from its obligation to seek a similar stay from the Ninth District Court of Appeals, state law allows it, and Miraldi doesn't have the power to stay a judgment through the entire appeals process, the Gibsons' attorneys argued. The bond also isn't enough to halt the judgment against the college throughout the entire appeals process, and interest continues to pile up at a rate of more than $4,300 per day. The Akron-based appeals court previously rejected Oberlin College's arguments on appeal, as well as arguments made by the Gibsons and their attorneys that caps on monetary damages in civil cases are unconstitutional.