Oregon Court of Appeals Overturns $135K Fine For Bakery That Refused to Make Same-Sex Wedding Cake
A win for the good guys.
Does my heart good when the courts fix an injustice. The bakery fiasco has been partially fixed. They still had the ruling go against them, but at least the fine was removed. They are still in court on appeals, but what's sad was the fact that they closed the bakery. Below is a recap by Gateway Pundit of the recent case.
The Oregon Court of Appeals has overturned a $135,000 fine imposed on a bakery that refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2013.
In an opinion released Wednesday, Jan. 26, the court upheld its original 2017 decision against the couple — Aaron and Melissa Klein, then doing business as Sweetcakes by Melissa — based on a 2015 determination by the Bureau of Labor and Industries that they violated Oregon’s 2007 law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. The couple argued that doing so would infringe on their religious rights.
But the court also overturned its previous approval of $60,000 in noneconomic damages to Laurel Bowman-Cryer and $75,000 to Rachel Bowman-Cryer, both awarded by an administrative law judge in the bureau. The court found that the awards were based partly on a conversation about beliefs between Aaron Klein and Cheryl McPherson, Rachel’s mother, who the court found relayed it inaccurately to the couple.
The Klein’s had argued that they refused to bake cakes for same-sex weddings due to their religious beliefs. They ended up closing their business in 2016 amid the legal battle.