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Oberlin College Tag

Yesterday concluded Day 8 of witness testimony in Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College. The events giving rise to the lawsuit have been said to represent “the worst of identity politics.”  You can read about some of the background on this case here. Today was a day off from witness testimony due a a prior commitment of the Judge. For those of you who have not been following along, here are our prior trial posts:

Today was Day 8 of witness testimony in Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College. The events giving rise to the lawsuit have been said to represent “the worst of identity politics.”  You can read about some of the background on this case here. In an emotional day of testimony, Gibson’s Bakery & Market owner David Gibson at one point looked at the jury and then across the room in the Ohio courtroom toward his 90-year-old father and his eyes welled up. “I realized very soon on how everything had been going in this, that my dad was going to pass away labeled as a racist.”

Today was Day 7 of witness testimony in Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College. The events giving rise to the lawsuit have been said to represent “the worst of identity politics.”  You can read about some of the background on this case here. The court addressed damage issues from a legal perspective earlier in the case, as described in our post Gibson’s Bakery v. Oberlin College trial motions – What’s a reputation worth, and how do you prove it?

We have completed 6 days of witness testimony in Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College. The events giving rise to the lawsuit have been said to represent “the worst of identity politics.”  You can read about some of the background on this case here. The upcoming week will probably be key in terms of what evidence is being presented to the jury. Gibson’s Bakerywill be trying to show that the school did not merely try to “deescalate” the protests against Gibson's and accusations of racism, but “fanned the flames” and made the outcome far worse.

Today was Day 3 of witness testimony in Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College. The events giving rise to the lawsuit have been said to represent “the worst of identity politics.”  You can read about some of the background on this case here. Oberlin College Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo completed her testimony, which started yesterday. She is a defendant in the case, and the plaintiffs had called her as an “adverse witness.”

There has been near complete silence by national media regarding Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College, which we have covered since the initial protests through the current ongoing trial. The case is proceeding under the national media radar no more, as Tucker Carlson covered the case tonight. I was a guest on the program to discuss the implications of the case.

In ways that are both irritating and interesting, the opening statements by the attorneys in Gibson Bros. v. Oberlin College shows how jurors may have a hard time defining the event in question accurately. The question is whether a fairly elite, liberal arts college (Oberlin College) defamed and libeled a small family run business (Gibson’s Bakery & Market) with racial overtones. All this in a time when the different political and cultural tribes were picking sides on just about everything, the day after Donald Trump's election.

Given its complex nature, the jury selection for the Gibson Bros v. Oberlin College civil case trial will not be finished until Thursday, with the first witness not taking the stand until Friday. The intricacies showed up on Wednesday when potential jurors were questioned on their views of the rights of criminal victims, freedom of speech, religious forgiveness of those who steal, and the nature of how does one react when one’s reputation is damaged by social media bullies.

With the lawsuit that decides whether a liberal arts college defamed a more than century-old small business with racist accusations getting officially underway Wednesday with jury selection, there was one major motion that had to be decided. No, it wasn’t whether Oberlin College has officially subscribed to a Maoist-crypto-neo-anarcho-communist state of education in recent years. It was about how does a court define how a dollar amount is determined if a jury arrives at the conclusion that the defendant did defame the plaintiff.

With the Gibson Bros v. Oberlin College lawsuit set to begin jury selection on Wednesday, I want to pursue the discussion of why this case hasn’t received more national publicity. Specifically, let’s look at why the national politicians, who crave attention on various issues that keep them elected, haven’t used this case to bolster their left or right viewpoints.