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Boise State University administrators owe Big City Coffee owner Sarah Fendley $3 million after a jury ruled in favor of Fendley and awarded her damages in her lawsuit late Friday, capping a three-week long trial that centered around the closure of her business.
Fendley sued Boise State for $10 million after her campus shop closed in October 2020, a month and a half after opening next to the university’s library, arguing that a group of students forced her out of the location because they opposed her pro-police views. A jury of 12 Ada County residents sided with Fendley, who argued in her complaint that she was forced out of her location because of her support of the “thin blue line,” the idea that police form the line between order and lawlessness.
The case honed in on two individual defendants: Alicia Estey, who was Boise State’s vice president for university affairs at the time and has since been promoted to chief financial and operating officer; and Leslie Webb, the university’s former vice president of student affairs.
Fendley’s attorney Michael Roe, of Givens Pursley, said Friday afternoon during closing statements that Boise State forced Fendley off of campus to appease a small group of students who disagreed with her pro-police views. Fendley has been vocal about her support for police online and in her downtown shop, which displays a 3-by-5-inch thin blue line flag near the door.
Boise State’s attorney, Keely Duke of Duke Evett, maintained that it was Fendley who chose to terminate the campus contract after administrators remained neutral as Fendley sought their support in the dispute.
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Source Agencies
