Oberlin College sues 4 insurance companies over Gibsons Bakery settlement

Oberlin College has sued four of its insurance providers in Lorain County Common Pleas Court to force them to cover the multimillion-dollar judgment that Gibson's Bakery won against the college in 2019. The college filed suit in April against Lexington Insurance Company of New York; United Educators Insurance of Bethesda, Maryland; Mount Hawley Insurance Company of Peoria, Illinois; and StarStone Specialty Insurance Company of Cincinnati. Oberlin College claimed the insurance companies wrongfully refused "to honor promises they made in their respective policies to protect the interests of Oberlin College" and its former vice president and dean of students, Meredith Raimondo. The case is assigned to Judge Chris Cook, whom the college is asking to force the insurance companies to cover the more than $36 million it paid the Gibsons last year as a result of the lawsuit. Court records didn't specify when the next hearing will be in the case. At the time of the events that led to the Gibsons lawsuit, Oberlin College said it had insurance policies providing "at least $75 million in total insurance coverage, which is more than enough to pay the underlying judgment and substantial unpaid defense costs" it incurred in the nearly six-year legal battle. The college got $1 million from one of its insurance companies, but "also incurred millions of dollars in defense costs pursuing its appeals," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit did not give an exact dollar amount the college spent on legal fees. Oberlin College's insurance policies included $25 million in commercial umbrella liability coverage from Lexington; $10 million from Mount Hawley; $5 million from StarStone; and $25 million in overlapping educators legal liability coverage from United Educators, according to the lawsuit. "These policies were intended to provide seamless coverage for lawsuits like the Gibson litigation," according to the lawsuit. "Unfortunately, the defendant insurers have failed to pay a penny toward the $36,590,572.48 sum that Oberlin paid the Gibson plaintiffs. They also have failed to pay for the full cost of Oberlin's appeals, which were pursued at the behest of the insurers in order to reduce their collective exposure." The insurers allegedly told the college that "some, if not all, of the damages" would be covered, according to the lawsuit. Insted, Lexington and United Educators allegedly "engaged in a systematic, multi-year effort to avoid their coverage obligations by attempting to shift responsibility from the Gibson lawsuit to each other," other insurance companies or the college, according to the lawsuit. Lexington and United Educators also allegedly "both had numerous pretrial opportunities to resolve the underlying litigation for a small fraction of the eventual verdict" and could have settled the case for for less than $10 million on the eve of trial, according to the lawsuit. The college had even demanded the insurance companies do so, according to the lawsuit. None of them did, according to the lawsuit, with Lexington failing to pay "a single cent" and Oberlin College facing "complete abandonment" by United Educators. Mediation between the college and United Educators failed in early 2021, and the insurance company refuse to renew Oberlin College's policy after a 34-year policyholder relationship, according to the lawsuit. Background After losing at trial and with all of its appeals exhausted, the college paid the Gibson family and their bakery more than $36.5 million in damages last year. The verdict and damages stemmed from the aftermath of student protests over the arrest of Oberlin College student Jonathan Aladin in November 2016. Aladin tried to buy wine from the bakery with a fake ID, was chased out of the store and assaulted clerk Allyn Gibson — the son and grandson of its owners. Different versions of what happened outside the store after Aladin ran and Allyn Gibson chased him persist, but Aladin and fellow students Endia Lawrence and Cecilia Whettstone were arrested by Oberlin police. Aladin initially faced a felony robbery charge that was later dismissed. All three students later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor attempted theft and aggravated trespassing, and Aladin to an additional charge of purchasing alcohol underage. They served no jail time and read statements in court that Allyn Gibson had the right to pursue them after the attempted theft and that his actions weren't racist. Following the arrests, Oberlin College students protested outside the bakery for two days. They handed out flyers that alleged a long history of racism at the bakery. Raimondo was accused of supporting student protesters during the drama, including helping to hand out flyers. The Gibsons sued in 2017 after college officials refused to apologize or issue a statement saying the family wasn't racist. No evidence of racism by the Gibsons or the bakery was presented during the 2019 civil trial. Instead, Gibsons employees and community members testified the Gibsons weren't racist. Other evidence presented at trial included text messages and emails by Oberlin College officials mocking the bakery and its products and threatening to "rain fire and brimstone" on the business. A monthlong trial in Common Pleas Judge John Miraldi's court in 2019 ended in a verdict in favor of the bakery and the Gibsons, who were awarded $44 million in damages by a jury. Miraldi reduced the award to $25 million because Ohio law sets caps on monetary damages in civil cases. Three years of appeals followed, during which time the damages earned interest. The college paid the full judgment after the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the case, including $6.5 million in legal fees to the Gibsons' attorneys.