Can a College Be Legally Responsible for What Its Students Say?

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

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An Ohio jury awarded $11 million in compensatory damages to Gibson’s Bakery.  Gibson’s filed a lawsuit alleging defamation against Oberlin College.  Students of Oberlin had accused Gibson’s of being racist after a white employee chased down a black Oberlin student who had attempted to use a fake ID to purchase alcohol, and was suspected of stealing alcohol by the Gibson’s employee.  According to court records, the student did plead guilty to attempted theft.

Students at Oberlin accused Gibson’s of being racist, and petitioned Oberlin to cut its ties to the bakery, which was a supplier to its cafeterias.  The lawsuit accused Oberlin of supporting the students’ claims of racism.

Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment lawyer, was quoted as saying, “The notion that uninhibited student speech can lead to vast financial liability for the universities at which it occurs threatens both the viability of educational institutions and ultimately the free speech of their students.”

Oberlin is no stranger to moral outrage.  In 2015, students accused the campus dining department and Oberlin’s dining vendor, of cultural appropriation and insensitivity, criticizing what they saw as poor attempts at multicultural cooking.

The jury will reconvene this week to decide on punitive damages.

Online Can Sometimes Mean Forever

Posted on by Horman Nichols, LLC

We all know someone who has had an inaccurate rumor about them spread around.  Usually, we see this more often in social circles, but sometimes it’s more serious than that.

Take Dr. Ricardo Quarrie for example.  He is a Yale-educated cardiothoracic surgeon, who was accused of lying to a patient to cover up a mistake.  This patient’s attorney, Joel Faxon, told a television station in 2016 that Dr. Quarrie made false statements to his client in an attempt to cover up a mistake the hospital made.  Last month, Faxon wrote a retraction, stating that Dr. Quarrie did NOT lie to his client.

However, for Dr. Quarrie, the damage may be done. He states that employers have told him that while he is qualified, patients Google their doctors, and the articles from 2016 with the false accusations could still appear in the top of the search results.

Dr. Quarrie has indicated he will not file suit against Faxon and that part of that consideration was the written retraction Faxon provided.  However, that would have been an option available to him.  Instead, he is working with an online reputation company at nearly $900.00 per month to help him reclaim his reputation.

We recently had a client contact us regarding inaccurate information being posted on a Facebook forum.  We sent a cease and desist letter to the person posting the comments, explaining why they were inaccurate and cautioning the poster that our client would pursue legal action if anymore posts were made.  Thankfully, the matter was quickly resolved.

Before you post something online that may be critical of a person or business, make sure your information is accurate.  If you have any doubt, don’t post it. Being sued for defamation is expensive and unpleasant.  If you’ve had inaccurate or libelous information posted about you, here are some steps you can take before going down the road of contacting an attorney.