Gibson's Bakery: We may close if Oberlin College doesn't pay us

If Gibson's Bakery isn't paid the money it won in a civil suit against its neighbor, Oberlin College, the 137-year-old family-owned bakery might be forced out of business, its attorney told a court last week. Attorney Lee Plakas asked Lorain County Common Pleas Judge John Miraldi to either order Oberlin College to pay the more than $36 million his clients are owed after winning a court case against the college in 2019 or to hold a hearing against an insurance company that holds Oberlin College's appeals bond. "The delay in enforcing the unanimously affirmed judgment will result in irreparable harm to the Gibson family and their iconic bakery," Plakas wrote in the July 26 motion. The Gibsons are "still laboring under the stigma created by Oberlin (College's) conduct," he wrote. The family had to mortgage their home and rental properties. Co-owners David Gibson and Allyn W. "Grandpa" Gibson died while the case was on appeal. Lorna Gibson, widow of David Gibson, "estimates that unless there is substantial change in circumstances, the bakery may only survive for the next couple of months," according to her attorney. Oberlin College got an appeal bond through Zurich American Insurance Co. after Miraldi ordered it in July 2019. Appeals bonds ensure a monetary judgment can be paid if an appeal fails. The Gibsons' attorneys have asked the court to order Zurich to pay the bond. A common pleas jury found that the college defamed the Gibsons and the business and awarded a $44 million judgment more than three years ago. Miraldi reduced that to $25 million, because Ohio law limits monetary damages in civil cases. The bakery also was awarded more than $6.5 million in attorney fees. The judgment has been piling up interest ever since, and is now at more than $4.5 million. That brings the amount the college owes the bakery, were it ordered to pay today, to more than $36 million. The case is pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.