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Boise State University administrators are to blame Big City Coffee owner Sarah Fendley $3 million after a jury ruled in Fendley’s favor and awarded her damages in her lawsuit late Friday, capping a three-week trial that revolved around the shutdown of her business.
Fendley sued Boise State for $10 million after her campus store 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 claimed in her complaint that she was forced out of her seat because of her support for the “thin blue line,” the idea that police provide the boundary between law and order.
The case zeroed 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 officer and chief operating officer; and Leslie Webb, the university’s former vice president for student affairs.
Fendley’s attorney Michael Roe, Givens Pursley, said Friday afternoon during closing statements that Boise State forced Fendley off campus to appease a small group of students who disagreed with her pro-police views. Fendley has been vocal about his support for police online and at his downtown store, which displays a 3-by-5-inch thin blue line flag near the door.
Boise State’s attorney, Keely Duke of Duke Evett, argued that it was Fendley who chose to terminate the campus contract after administrators remained neutral when Fendley sought their support in the dispute.
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