BREAKING: Jury awards Gibson's Bakery & owners maximum punitive damages, bringing total judgment against Oberlin College to $33 million. This historic case proves colleges can be held accountable for defamation of private individuals & businesses.https://t.co/0dJIIj0dlF
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) June 13, 2019
This after the bakery was targeted by protesters with the help of Oberlin after the bakery caught Oberlin students shoplifting and were falsely accused of being racist.
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.
The breakdown was:
David Gibson – $17.5 million punitive damages
Allyn W. Gibson — $8.75 million punitive damages
Gibson Bros. Inc. (the Bakery) – $6,973,500 punitive damages