Ohio bakery awarded $11 million in libel lawsuit against Oberlin College over alleged racial profili

[Celerity]

17. According to the complaint, a Facebook post by an Oberlin academic department stated, "Gibson's has

been bad for decades, their dislike of Black people is palpable. Their food is rotten and they profile Black students. NO MORE! "

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/10/oberlin-college-gibsons-bakery-libel-million-racist/?utm_term=.82265c0101f8

For Gibson’s owners, the plea deal reached by the students with prosecutors did not settle the matter. In November 2017, they filed a civil complaint against Oberlin in the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas. Accusing the college of lending support to the protests, the Gibson family sued the institution, as well as Raimondo, for libel, slander, interference with business relationships, interference with contracts, deceptive trade practices, infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and trespass.

The owners argued that college leaders facilitated the “illegal defamation and economic boycott” by helping students copy and distribute the fliers, as well as joining them at protest actions and allowing them to skip class and gain credit to continue their campaign.

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“Gibson’s Bakery has suffered a severe and sustained loss of student, professor, administrative, and college department business,” the complaint argued. It also pointed to a “severe emotional and physical toll” on the family. A home had been damaged, they claimed, and car tires had been punctured.

The college responded by arguing that none of the statements cited by the bakery’s owners had been defamatory. Instead, they represented protected speech. Specifically, the filing maintained that the allegation of racism could not be grounds for a defamation claim because it was a statement of opinion that could not be proven false.

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