In 2016, Oberlin faculty and students staged large demonstrations urging a boycott of the Gibson's Bakery and Market, a downtown Oberlin business, following a shoplifting incident involving an African-American student, on the grounds that the store was racist. In June 2019, the college was found liable for libel and tortious interference in a lawsuit initiated by the store; the bakery was awarded $11 million in compensatory damages and $33 million in punitive damages. In July 2019, the court ordered Oberlin to pay an additional $6.5 million as reimbursement for Gibson's legal expenses. In October 2019, the college filed a Notice of Appeal appealing the case to the Ninth District Court of Appeals in Akron, Ohio.