https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/o ... eaningful/

Nice to see someone have to pay out for wrongfully claiming someone was racist and then trying to destroy their livelihood

_________________
“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

It seems like that decision was incorrect and will probably be turned over on appeal. I'm pretty sure an individual has the Constitutional freedom to express the opinion that a business is discriminatory or that its owners are racists. It seems like everyone of all political stripes is against free speech unless it's their own.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

The statements were defamatory and libelous in nature so this will stand.

_________________
“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

I'm not sure an opinion can be libelous. Can Tall Midget now be successfully sued for his criticism of Hecky's or Rub?

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

I read a different article on that case. It sounded like the facts of the case did not support that the store was racist. Also, the university and students did specific things to discourage people from going to the store. So they had spread lies that impacted the business negatively.

As a huge free speech advocate, it is a pretty tall mountain to climb where plaintiffs should prevail in these cases. But from everything I read, the defendants’ behavior seemed to warrant damages.

I would expect the puni award to be reduced.

You can’t stand outside a food store and wrongly claim they are selling dog meat.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

I'm not championing Oberlin or the students. I think a lot of their actions were despicable. But like you said, there's high bar for libel. I think it's a more than reasonable position to say that at least most of what they expressed regarding the store was opinion. And the school certainly has the right to cease doing business with the store.

Anyway, is this what it took to get you back here, Dennis?

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Just passing through.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

The author of the quoted piece is literally a former president of FIRE, which is a free speech organization so I'd defer to his opinion.

This is the org he was president of https://www.thefire.org

I believe Milt Rosenberg was on their board for some time as well

_________________
“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

you should stay and make yourself at home

_________________
“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

I read all the threads, which is reason enough to just PM people as needed. Trump’s America has infected us all, and I don’t wish to be angry.

On a side note, Boyd was spot on with his Friends pick in that tv show thread. His soccer thoughts are also strong.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

How about Famous Alumni going on talk shows futhuring the lie ?

_________________
When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

What was the lie?

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

QCP was the president of FIYAH!!!, which is a group on Twitter comprised of middle aged white men stalking ebony queens timelines leaving tweets telling them how hot they are .

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

and that tweet is getting "ratioed"

David A French is an attorney who specializes in Constitutional law, particularly 1st Amendment cases. He isn't just some blogger who went to J School and wrote a random piece like 99% of the shit we read online.

_________________
“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

If I was a college administrator who saw this verdict all I would do is use it as proof why banning extreme speakers like Milo is the right choice if it was used against them that university printers were used for flyers.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I've read the whole thread. There are several attorneys who agree with that guy's take.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Oberlin administrators participated in the publishing and distribution of false accusations of criminal activity by the bakery. That's not legally kosher under any standard of libel/defamation, whether one is public figure or private, family run business.

The issue you have with someone randomly libeling you on a message board by calling you a criminal/std connoisseur is proving damages. sure, you can go to court and file a lawsuit. But then you'd have to prove economic damages. Economic damages provide a baseline for calculating non-economic damages (pain and suffering/emotional distress/loss of reputation), usually some multiple of economic damages. So if your economic damages are zero or de minimis...Some states allow non-economic damages for emotional distress/loss of reputation even absent actual economic damages, but usually for a narrowly demarcated set of claims (criminal/disease carrier type claims).

The bakery lost a lot of business, had to laid off ee's etc as Oberlin's campaign against them proceeded. Demonstrating actual lost business + projecting those damages into the future the jury came up with the $11 million figure. In addition to the public campaign against the bakery, discovery in the Oberlin case revealed text messages btw Oberlin administrators saying such things as "fuck them [the bakery], unleash the hounds!" which together with the public actions of Oberlin administrators provided proof of malice to allow a punitive award by the jury.

Oberlin's claim of poverty rings a bit hollow, considering they make a big deal about their almost billion dollar endowment:



Maybe they can get Oberlin alum Lena Dunham to help cover the judgment.

Oberlin’s attorneys after seeing those administrators text messages during discovery

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I don't really see how they did that. "Racism" isn't a criminal activity. And who even knows what it means? I guess you could take the position that the owner didn't "assault" anyone under the strict legal definition like the guy in the Twitter thread I linked suggests.

This makes me consider shutting down this site. Am I going to be held responsible for the "publishing and distribution" of the idiotic thoughts and possible slander of one of you goofs? (I do understand the position that Oberlin took an active role. I just don't think it's as cut and dried as a lot of you believe. Obviously the jury wanted to punish people they thought deserved it. I don't think the actual law was a big concern. And for the record, I don't feel bad for Oberlin.)

But the more I think about it, the more I hope this decision gets overturned or at least narrowed in some manner.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

Yes you are responsible for Elmhurst Steve and Cheap Charlie.

_________________

Going by how hard the bakery's attorney hammered home the assault piece of the case, it was the money shot of his opening/closing statements, possibly this is not in court absent that assault claim. Although the bakery could make an argument for damage to reputation/loss of business based on the other claims. It's the claim of an assault that's the camel's nose in the tent from an easily actionable libel/defamation perspective; which then opens the door to discovery and aggregating other actions by the Oberlin administration. afaik, the only people who faced actual criminal action arising from the post-Trump election shoplifting incident were the students. Making the legitimacy of the assault claim a question of fact for the jury? which is probably what the judge in the case hung his hat on when Oberlin tried to have the case tossed before trial and again right before the case went to the jury. Hard to tell, i believe the judge issued his rulings without explanation/opinion.

Vladimir Guerrero hitting a home run off a ball in the dirt right here.

_________________

Home run indeed. Ugly but a HR nonetheless!

_________________
Happy Halloween!

IT will stand upon appeal. Their actions(Oberlin) resulted in a loss of earning for a company by their libelous accusations. And their charges were in themselves wholly false in their inception. Oberlin basically tried to backmail the bakery in agreeing to give the company back its contract if it agreed to drop its lawsuit.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

What were those actions? "Allowing" their students to protest a business? I think if you really think about it, you don't want to be subject to the kind of punishment Oberlin received for what they did.

_________________
Ecclesiastes 5:8

David French is getting a lot of traction around here lately.

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

This went far beyond merely allowing these student to protest a business. THe university itself including its dean of students openly advocated for shutting this business down, including participating in these rallies, publishing flyers, etc. The attorneys for the bakery apparently argued successfully that the college intended to ruin a business with meritless and hurtful charges. This wasn't about a legal right to protest. THis was about aiding and abetting extortion of a company and its owners. To my mind that dean of students should be fired for what she did.

I know Oberlin college is a very liberal one and a locale for very spoiled children. A long time ago I had a grad school buddy who went there for his undergrad work and it was liberal even back then.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip