What The Fuck is In the Water in Ohio?

 I am very surprised the obscene windfall in the case against Oberlin College was not over turned by the appellate court.  But I have been fucked by judges so I can't be that surprised.  However, the amount of public scrutiny paid to this fairly weak claim of defamation seemed to me to insure sanity should prevail, and the jury verdict thrown out.

But I don't know fuck about Ohio politics, in or out of court.  And I just learned today that the stricter form of holding people liable for defamation is more . . .  Liberal.  Funny to say it that way.  But that being clear now explains the ludicrous punitive damages.

I will just say that a defamation claim from  being called a racist won't keep you in court long enough to get past a motion to dismiss in many states.  Won't even get you to a jury trial in most of the rest.  And I don't know of any place other than Ohio that in theory allows for punitive damages.

Soo we are down to two questions.   Will the Ohio Supreme Court elect to hear Oberlin's likely appeal?  And if so will they fix the hole in their case law that doesn't specify and limit what is an attack on character?  More specifically will they find as many other US states have.  That being called a racist is just an insult not a ground for a lawsuit at all never mind punitive damages.