Oberlin College pays Gibson's Bakery judgment

The Gibsons have been paid. An attorney for the Oberlin family confirmed that Gibson's Bakery and the Gibson family have received payment from Oberlin College following a six-years-long defamation case that cost the college more than $36.5 million. "We can confirm that all funds have been disbursed and that the family is continuing with the process of rebuilding Gibson's Bakery for the next generations," attorney Brandon McHugh of the law firm Plakas Mannos, which represented the Gibsons and the bakery in court, said in an email to The Chronicle-Telegram on Wednesday. Oberlin College spokesperson Andrea Simakis said the college had no additional statement Wednesday, beyond one posted to the college website on Sept. 8. In that statement, the college said it had started payment of "awarded damages and accumulated interest." The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the college's appeal in August, and its board of trustees "decided not to pursue the matter further," the college wrote in the Sept. 8 statement. In the September statement, the college said it was disappointed by the court's decision, called the lengthy legal matter "painful for everyone" and hoped that the end of the court fight "will begin the healing of our entire community." "Careful financial planning" including insurance coverage will ensure the college can pay the Gibsons what it owes without a negative impact on academics or the student body at the 189-year-old private liberal arts institution. The family bakery had asked numerous courts to force the college to pay the judgment for three years after winning its case in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. A jury decided in favor of the Gibsons and awarded a $44 million judgment in 2019. Judge John Miraldi later reduced that to $25 million because Ohio law caps monetary damages in civil cases. The Gibsons and the bakery have collected millions of dollars in interest on the judgment over the past three-and-a-half years of the appeals process. The college also was ordered to pay the Gibsons' attorneys more than $6.5 million in legal fees. Background In November 2016, an Oberlin College student tried to buy alcohol with a fake ID and shoplift several bottles of wine at the bakery on West College Street. When confronted, he ran. Allyn Gibson, the son and grandson of the owners, chased the student out onto the street where the two got into an altercation. Witness accounts vary on what happened next, but two other students waiting for their friend ended up in an altercation with him and Allyn Gibson. The students were later charged with misdemeanors and pleaded guilty in Oberlin Municipal Court, reading statements saying Allyn Gibson had the right to do what he did. For two days after the incident, students gathered in protest outside the store, calling the store and its owners racist and claiming a long history of racial discrimination against students of color. Then-Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo also was present during the protest. She was accused in court of supporting the protesters by handing out flyers. She also was adviser to the Oberlin Student Senate, which issued a proclamation in support of the protests that was posted on campus. The protests fractured the 100-year-plus business relationship between the bakery and the college, and the bakery sued after its owners said the college interfered with its business, refused to apologize or to issue a statement saying the Gibsons and their bakery weren't racist. The case made its way through Lorain County courts for two years, culminating in a monthlong trial in Miraldi's court, followed by three years of legal wrangling and appeals. Bakery co-owner David Gibson died in November 2019, and his father and co-owner, Allyn "Grandpa" Gibson, died in February. Raimondo now works at a university in Georgia. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.