Boise State University administrators have been ordered to pay a coffee shop owner $4 million following a unanimous ruling from a jury that found they violated her First Amendment rights in a dispute over her public support of law enforcement. Sarah Fendley, owner of Big City Coffee, was awarded $3 million for lost business, reputational damage, mental and emotional distress, and personal humiliation by the court on September 13th. Additionally, she received an extra $1 million in punitive damages from the school’s former vice president of student affairs.
Fendley initially sued the university for $10 million after closing her campus shop in October 2020, alleging that administrators conspired to retaliate against her for expressing pro-police views on social media. The university’s legal representatives denied any retaliation and accused Fendley herself of trying to get the institution to infringe on students’ speech rights.
Big City opened an on-campus location in September 2020, following nationwide police reform protests that erupted after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Fendley’s support for law enforcement – she displayed a thin blue line sticker near the door of her shop’s downtown Boise location – sparked anger among student activists, according to the lawsuit.
One student posted on Snapchat urging others not to patronize the coffee shop if they supported their BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) peers, staff, and faculty. Fendley responded publicly on Facebook and Instagram, explaining her support for the police, which she had developed through her engagement to a former Boise police officer who was paralyzed in a gunfight with a fugitive.
University administrators convened an emergency meeting with Fendley to address the social media controversy her post created, according to the lawsuit. Alicia Estey, one of the defendants, secretly recorded much of the meeting, but the recording ended before the conversation concluded, and both parties disputed the outcome.
Fendley claimed that the university terminated her contract due to her support for law enforcement, a move that her lawyer said undoubtedly violated her free speech rights. Prior to the meeting, administrators were working on a press release about the business leaving campus, according to Fendley’s attorney Michael Roe, indicating their intention was to force the coffee shop out of the university premises.
Senior administration at BSU caved to a very small number of student activists,” Roe told Fox News Digital.
However, Estey, who testified as the last witness before closing arguments, denied that any retaliation occurred against Fendley. She made a choice to leave, which was her choice to make, there was no retaliation,” she said in a KTVB report.
Boise State’s attorney Keely Duke argued that Fendley was the one seeking to suppress speech by wanting administrators to use the student code of conduct to punish students for expressing views she disagreed with. Administrators remained neutral throughout the conflict, Duke stated, adding that “The First Amendment protects everyone. It protects Fendley’s right to express her support for the thin blue line. It also supports, though, anyone’s right to not support Big City Coffee.
Jurors deliberated for approximately three hours before siding unanimously with Fendley. Duke has not yet responded to a request for comment, but local outlets have reported that the administrators plan to appeal the verdict to the Idaho Supreme Court.
