With a Huge Punitive Damage
Award, the Oberlin Verdict Becomes
Even More Meaningful
National Review,
by
David French
Original Article
Posted By: Judy W.,
6/16/2019 7:45:05 AM
Yesterday, the jury in the Oberlin College defamation trial delivered the school a staggering blow — awarding the plaintiffs $33 million in punitive damages after last week handing down an $11 million verdict for the college’s role in a defamatory campaign against a small Ohio bakery. The total damage award is so large that it may exceed state-law limits. But make no mistake, even if the award is reduced to, say, a “mere” $25 million, this case is profoundly important. (Snip) Given the prevalence of malice and falsehood in modern outrage mobs, the culture was ripe for a case like the Oberlin trial,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
raspberry 6/16/2019 7:54:41 AM (No. 99147)
At last reason prevails in this crazy world that America has become. Thank God for a rational jury.
35 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Nevadadad46 6/16/2019 8:12:47 AM (No. 99163)
Winning a judgement and collecting a judgement are, sadly, two completely different things. Let's wait and see if Soros or some other filthy rich leftist does not step in and do something bad on this case. Appeals could go on for decades. I know if I lost a case to someone I positively hated, I would much rather spend the entire judgement value on lawyers fighting the payment than actually making the payment. I expect the leftists at Oberlin to do the irrational things they have always done. To them, the money is entirely unimportant- it is the agenda that counts. Someone else can always be convinced to pay the bills for crazy leftist radical viciousness.
22 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Rob_NC 6/16/2019 8:20:45 AM (No. 99175)
Hope this is the tip of the iceberg....
18 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
HotRod 6/16/2019 9:23:14 AM (No. 99215)
At last, a ray of light, no, a laser beam, zaps the racists and communists! Let this be the beginning of an education cleansing!
12 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Pepper Tree 6/16/2019 9:39:15 AM (No. 99226)
Prairie dog alert! It’s time for slip and fall lawyers to do the same
damage to liberal colleges as they did to the small aircraft industry
and private medical practice. Sue ‘em into non-existence. Think
of the assets Berkeley U has. The padlock-throwing professor Eric
Clanton taught there when he was recruiting students for ANTIFA.
That should be worth $30 million out of petty cash just to keep the
issue from coming up in the news again.
10 people like this.
Appeals cost money. The courts are often used to bleed an opponent financially. What makes this interesting is the apparent abandonment of Oberlin by their insurance company...malicious behavior wasn't in the policy. Soon to become Gibson Christian College...
7 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
jacksin5 6/16/2019 9:48:59 AM (No. 99233)
Time to play Whack-A-Mole with all these Indoctrination Centers claiming to be Institutes of Higher Learning. If your aim is to train Storm Troopers for the Socialist Revolution, it's gonna cost you.
11 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
lawdoc 6/16/2019 10:58:14 AM (No. 99281)
French's comment that universities support for activism is ok so long as the issue is not based on a lie is wrong, as he usually is. Promoting political activism is not a valid educational activity. Ever.
9 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Philipsonh 6/16/2019 11:44:44 AM (No. 99312)
An appeals requires putting up a cash bond. I hope this RACIST college chokes on it. 3/4 of their curriculum is so liberal that graduates will not be able to find jobs .
6 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 6/16/2019 11:57:34 AM (No. 99321)
I never click on ANYTHING from David French any more.
I really hope he fails as a columinist and has to find some other job.
Disgusting, deranged person.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Catfur27 6/16/2019 12:17:57 PM (No. 99347)
For decades, " schools " (aka "indoctrination centers" ) have openly - and maliciously - conspired to prohibit free speech when it comes to conservative speakers on campus ....they have been harassed...physically attacked...prohibited from speaking..............wouldn't it be sweeeeeet if Ann Coulter...Ben Shapiro...Michael Savage ...etc ...were awarded MILLIONS of $$$ in damages against berserkely...harvard...michigan...and ...fill in the blank____ ??
2 people like this.
National Review is the trash and David French is the garbage,
2 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
pensom2 6/16/2019 3:05:19 PM (No. 99467)
Oberlin has the money, so it will not that difficult to collect the judgment. Oberlin will have to post a bond in order to maintain any appeal. The appellate process may take two to three years, but it won't be decades. This is not an anti-trust case or a criminal death penalty case.
And for those who keep asking why the dean of students, who fomented the demonstrations and lies, wasn't fired, the answer is that firing her would be an admission that she did what the Gibsons claimed she did.
2 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
zoidberg 6/16/2019 6:02:52 PM (No. 99533)
Thank God for the National Review and David French. This article summed up the entire case quite nicely.
0 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Harlowe 6/16/2019 6:05:41 PM (No. 99536)
#2#6- Bingo! “...see if Soros or some other filthy rich leftist does not step in and do something bad on this case.” - “The courts are often used to bleed an opponent financially.”
In less than 24 hours after the $44 million settlement verdict, the president of Oberlin College sent a letter assuring alumni that the punitive damage award will change: “This is not the final outcome. This is, in fact, just one step along the way of what may turn out to be a lengthy and complex legal process. ...” To some, the verbiage seemed threatening, intent to repudiate, at all costs, the accusation that Oberlin College libeled Gibson’s Bakery and, with Oberlin College’s vast financial resources to pursue appeals, therein the means to cause the Gibson family further emotional turmoil and personal financial liability. Further, the letter said the legal process “...will not distract, deter or materially harm our education mission, for today’s students or for generations to come.” Time and actions on the part of the college will be telling.
2 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 6/16/2019 11:26:15 PM (No. 99666)
#14, I could not possibly disagree more.
I despise French, a deranged, unhinged irrational Trump hater.
1 person likes this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Judy W."
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Comments:
He points out that lawyers didn't think there was any money in taking up free speech cases against universities. Now that it's been shown otherwise, a lot of lawyers are sitting up and taking notice. The lawyers in this case have shown how to do it.