Thank you for posting this and I hope everyone reads the attached judges ruling. In it he judge makes it damn clear the case is closed and the college needs to stop the legal wrangling, appeal crap, and the “This isn’t over!” attitude and shut up/pay up. He writes “Case closed” and “IT IS SO ORDERED” (yes in call caps) at the bottom.
Also in awarding legal fees he took all the billable hours (at $290 an hour) reported and multiplied it by 1.5 to get to a final figure of about $6.5 million in legal fees the college must pay on top of the current ruling for $25 million.
Is this common for a judge to do?
A trial judge has no power to prevent a party from appealing.
I have known a number of judges that write “IT IS SO ORDERED” at the end of all orders. Others that will capitalize and/or bold just the word “ORDERED”. (Others that do it every time the words Order, Direct, etc. are used in the opinion). I don’t think that’s particularly remarkable.
I don’t know if “case closed” is common in a final order, but it wouldn’t shock me. Especially because a fee petition tends to come after judgment is entered (which would usually close the case for appellate purposes).
Edit: I skimmed the order. It strikes me as entirely unremarkable in tone and content and a fairly ordinary application of the law on “reasonable” fee calculations, except that I don’t really understand the “multiplier” thing, which appears to just be part of Ohio law.
To pay the $31.5 million judgement, Oberlin College could increase its student activity fee by $11142.55 for 1 year. Or tap its endowment of $887.4 million.
- Judgement: Post 102
- Enrollment: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/oberlin-college-3086
- Endowment: https://www.oberlin.edu/investment/assets
I’m with the others. That seems to be a typical ruling. The school is free to appeal like any other litigant if it, through consultation with its attorneys, believes that the judge has made an error of law and believes that it is beneficial to pursue the matter further.
Not necessarily. Endowment funds are often under trust conditions, depending on the wishes of the donors. If I donate a million dollars (like I have that kind of cash) for the purpose of assisting students from Canada who attend Oberlin, that’s the only way the college can use that money. They’d be in breach of trust if they used it to pay the court judgment.
So it depends how much of the endowments are available for general operating expenses, without restrictions.
Nobody generally donates money to the “Oberlin Litigation Contingency Fund.” What, I get my name acknowledged on the cheque to the plaintiffs?
I want to see the “Northern Piper Canada House” on campus, dammit!
Oberlin (based on a recent statement by its new president) is arguing that this is a free speech issue, overlooking the defamation aspect and concentrating on stirring up outrage over the idea that Bad People are rejoicing over the verdict.
If enough people buy into that argument, they might be willing to donate to an Oberlin Defense Fund, though it’s hard to imagine raising more than a fraction of the $31.5 million that way.
Now wait, those funds are sitting in interest bearing accounts arent they? So cant they use the interest those funds build up?
Depends on the terms of the donation.
Some charitable donors might donate large sums, on condition that the principal is invested and only the interest can be used for the purpose of the donation. That interest can’t be diverted to another purpose without being in breach of the trust terms.
Other donors may donate a sum, and say that the College can use both principal and interest for the purpose of the trust.
Others might donate for general operations without conditions, so both principal and interest might be available.
It all depends on the terms of each donation: the conditions the donor might impose and the College accepts.
I’ve seen multipliers used in Canadian costs orders. There’s always a tariff of costs for each step in the litigation, but a judge might decide that the tariff isn’t a sufficient way to gauge the legal expenses in complex litigation. In those cases the judge might add up the tariff amount and then apply a multiplier to reach a more accurate total for the costs incurred by the litigant.
Are there additional court costs and fees associated with doing an appeal?
So do the people get their money if there is an appeal or do they have to wait till thats all settled?
Oberlin has asked for a delay in payment, but tomget it they have to post a $36 million bond.
I’ve always thought that was silly in civil cases: “Judge I don’t have $2,000 right now, can you give me a little more time?” “Sure, just post a $4,000 cash bond and we’ll set you right up.”
-
The court costs and fees are pretty minor. A few hundred bucks. You also have to pay your attorneys to prosecute the appeal.
-
As mentioned in Sam Stone’s and my post above, you have to post an appeal bond with the court to keep the judgment from being executed, which will likely be impossible in this case.
If the college doesn’t pay, the grocer can show up with the sheriff and start seizing bank accounts, cash from the til, dorm rooms, etc. Not joking.
Cost of the transcript would likely be pretty high though, wouldn’t it? That’s a big part of the cost of a civil appeal in Canada - the appellant has to pay to have the transcript prepared. For a lengthy trial, that can be a big chunk of change.
Well I would think by now they would have accountants going over the books and looking to find a way to pay for this. There has to be at least SOME of their endowment they can use. And I’m guessing they will either have to make some cuts or maybe sell something or tack on a bit to tuition.
I know the catholic church had to work hard to pay off settlements including selling church property and closing some programs.
Knowing the way colleges roll these days, they’ll probably come up with the money by jacking up student fees and laying off teaching staff. The administrators who caused this will be totally safe.
Well, yeah, in the thousands of dollars. I forgot that one. But for a college, that’s not a dent in the budget.
They have already been laying off staff (and freezing salaries) because of falling admissions.