Finally, The Gibson’s Bakery Family Has Been Paid By Oberlin College
The last we checked in on Gibson’s Bakery v. Oberlin College, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear Oberlin College’s appeal, ending the college’s fight to overturn the massive jury verdict. The $25 million verdict plus interest and attorney’s fees resulted in an almost $32 million judgment, with interest running at about $4000 per day since June 2019. In all, over $36 million was owed, secured by an appeal bond.
While Oberlin College announced, after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled, that it had agreed to pay the judgment, in fact it did so out of legal compulsion, not good faith. The Gibsons were poised to execute on the appeal bond. As we noted at the time, Oberlin College, even in legal defeat, refused to apologize or acknowledge it did anything wrong:
Notice what is not in the statement: An apology. Oberlin College still appears not to understand or accept what it did wrong. It considers itself the victim.There also was no apology, instead a dismissive attitude, in a mass email sent by the president of the college ….
In September, we held an online event with Lorna Gibson, wife of the late David Gibson and daughter-in-law of the late Allyn W. “Grandpa” Gibson, and lead trial attorneys Lee Plakas and Owen Rarric.
Legal Insurrection was given a heart-warming thank you:
Lee Plakas, lead trial counsel:We’d like to thank Professor Jacobson. And we’d like to thank all of the readers because although you did not know it at the time, and the time that this family was going through the challenge, Legal Insurrection, Professor Jacobson, and your readers gave the family the support and the courage that they needed to persevere in what literally was a David and Goliath battle. And you don’t know this, but every night, our trial team, before we would retire for the evening, and the evening wasn’t the evening, it was always two or three o’clock in the morning because as Professor Jacobson said, there was an onslaught of motions and efforts, and we had a billion dollar bully doing everything they possibly could to destroy this iconic bakery. So every night we actually would read Legal Insurrection because, and not because we had time on our hands, but because we knew that from the collective minds and observations of everybody, you were making comments. And we wanted to make sure that in this battle that we didn’t miss any nuance that one of your readers or Professor Jacobson may have identified. So we could incorporate it into our presentation. And because to be frank, we needed every advantage we could get ….Lorna Gibson, wife of the late David Gibson:… I do want to thank Legal Insurrection because you guys have been there from the start throughout this entire six years, and I really do appreciate all the coverage and just being there, it really helped for me to sit and look through all the comments and things every night. It gave me some hope. So thank you very much.
We have received numerous inquiries from readers as to whether the Gibsons had been paid.
We have confirmed with the Gibsons’ lawyers that the Gibsons have, indeed, finally been paid. The money was wired recently.
That payment, while large, hardly compensates the family for the pain they went through for over 6 years, and the loss of David and Grandpa after the verdict but before the appeals were resolved.
[David Gibson and Allyn W. Gibson at trial][Photo credit Bob Perkoski for Legal Insurrection Foundation]
[Gibson’s Bakery goods, lecture of William A. Jacobson at James Wilson Institute, November 2019]
[Featured Image: Gibson Family and legal team after punitive damages verdict][Photo credit Bob Perkoski for Legal Insurrection Foundation]
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