5 ms·

It wasn’t just the school, but also the students. They should pay the bakery too for damages. Shameful behavior

by throwoutway 4y ago

tartoran 4y ago
Those students are long gone though..
- umeshunni 4y ago
  Still well within the statute of limitations I assume.
  - johndevor 4y ago
    What crimes did they commit?
    - YeBanKo 4y ago
      Libel?
      - tptacek 4y ago
        Libel isn't a crime. Nobody is going to go after the students, because a defamation case has to establish damages, and no one student will have done any significant damage to the Gibson family. It was straightforward to demonstrate that Oberlin had.
        throwoutway 4y ago
        So society & justice should just ignore the masses protests of students because it’s too hard to prosecute? I think we can agree that yes it will be hard, but justice has not been fully served
        tptacek 4y ago
        First, you can't "prosecute" someone for defamation, because it isn't a crime. Second, "society and justice" can't do anything. To sue someone for defamation, you have to have standing: you have to be able to demonstrate harm to yourself. Third, it won't be "hard"; it will be impossible. Most of what the students said isn't defamatory (contrary to widely held opinion on these threads, calling the Gibson family "racist" is not defamatory, as it is a statement of opinion), and what defamatory things were said probably didn't cause any actual damage on a student-by-student basis. Later I updated this comment to change "very probably not defamatory" to simply "not defamatory" after doing some reading and learning that, lol-no, you cannot sue someone for calling you racist; courts do in fact hold that to be a statement of opinion.
        YeBanKo 4y ago
        There is such a thing like criminal libel. The bar is high and hard to prove. Civil procedure is technically a form of prosecution. The main goal of the students was a financial damage to the bakery. In fact, students action led actions by the college.
        tptacek 4y ago
        Find a criminal defamation statute in Ohio. I don't believe you can, but I stand ready to be surprised. Civil procedure is not technically a form of prosecution. And students can have a goal of damaging the bakery, but to be liable for defamation, they have to: (1) individually succeed in causing countable damage to Gibson's, and (2) do so by circulating false statements of fact --- for instance, you cannot sue someone for defamation simply for pointing out something somebody else said: "I read in this flyer that Gibson's assaulted a student" is not defamation, even if the flyer is. People have a lot of weird ideas about what happened here. The court filings are on the Internet; you can just go read them.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
kazinator 4y ago
I think the 36M settlement from the school is more than enough. It's the school's problem to go after the students to recover some of the money, if they are so inclined.

It wasn’t just the school, but also the students. They should pay the bakery too for damages. Shameful behavior

tartoran 4y ago

Those students are long gone though..

umeshunni 4y ago
Still well within the statute of limitations I assume.
- johndevor 4y ago
  What crimes did they commit?
  - YeBanKo 4y ago
    Libel?
    - tptacek 4y ago
      Libel isn't a crime. Nobody is going to go after the students, because a defamation case has to establish damages, and no one student will have done any significant damage to the Gibson family. It was straightforward to demonstrate that Oberlin had.
      - throwoutway 4y ago
        So society & justice should just ignore the masses protests of students because it’s too hard to prosecute? I think we can agree that yes it will be hard, but justice has not been fully served
        tptacek 4y ago
        First, you can't "prosecute" someone for defamation, because it isn't a crime. Second, "society and justice" can't do anything. To sue someone for defamation, you have to have standing: you have to be able to demonstrate harm to yourself. Third, it won't be "hard"; it will be impossible. Most of what the students said isn't defamatory (contrary to widely held opinion on these threads, calling the Gibson family "racist" is not defamatory, as it is a statement of opinion), and what defamatory things were said probably didn't cause any actual damage on a student-by-student basis. Later I updated this comment to change "very probably not defamatory" to simply "not defamatory" after doing some reading and learning that, lol-no, you cannot sue someone for calling you racist; courts do in fact hold that to be a statement of opinion.
      - YeBanKo 4y ago
        There is such a thing like criminal libel. The bar is high and hard to prove. Civil procedure is technically a form of prosecution. The main goal of the students was a financial damage to the bakery. In fact, students action led actions by the college.
        tptacek 4y ago
        Find a criminal defamation statute in Ohio. I don't believe you can, but I stand ready to be surprised. Civil procedure is not technically a form of prosecution. And students can have a goal of damaging the bakery, but to be liable for defamation, they have to: (1) individually succeed in causing countable damage to Gibson's, and (2) do so by circulating false statements of fact --- for instance, you cannot sue someone for defamation simply for pointing out something somebody else said: "I read in this flyer that Gibson's assaulted a student" is not defamation, even if the flyer is. People have a lot of weird ideas about what happened here. The court filings are on the Internet; you can just go read them.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

kazinator 4y ago

I think the 36M settlement from the school is more than enough. It's the school's problem to go after the students to recover some of the money, if they are so inclined.