Coffee shop wins $4 million in pro-police, free speech case

The owner of an Idaho coffee shop was awarded $4 million by a jury after she sued saying she was forced to shut her shop at Boise State University (BSU) over her pro-police views.

The verdict could help diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) critics take an axe to on-campus DEI funding in Idaho, just as other states have done.

The lawsuit claimed shop owner Sarah Fendley “was viciously attacked, falsely accused, libeled, slandered and driven from the BSU campus” with the help of the school and its administrators because of her support for police during the George Floyd protests in 2020.

The suit sought $10 million in damages for violations of Fendley’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.  

The judge in the case previously dismissed claims against BSU’s president and the university itself, but left claims against two administrators intact.  

Subsequently it took the jury just three hours, including dinner, to deliberate and find in favor of the coffee shop and award damages, reported Idaho Ed News.  

Fendley’s lawyer claimed that at the height of the George Floyd protests, Alicia Estey, Boise State’s chief financial and operating officer and presidential chief of staff, and Leslie Webb, former vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, conspired to remove the shop from campus. 

At issue was a pro-police “thin blue line” emblem displayed outside Fendley’s Big City Coffee (BCC) location at BSU, which garnered attention from student activists during the protests. 

The lawsuit said that even before the opening of the shop’s campus location, the university’s administrators were aware that the company and Fendley were outspoken supporters of police. 

But matters quickly got out of hand after the shop opened and a progressive activist took to social media to shame BCC and BSU about the pro-police sticker. 

“I hope y’all don’t go there if you truly support your BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] peers and other students, staff and faculty,” said a post on social media, reported local KTVB News 7.  

Fendley responded with a post of her own, explaining that her then-fiancé was a former Boise police officer who was in a wheelchair after being shot five times by a suspect and subsequently losing his leg, said the lawsuit.  

The internet tiff set off alarm bells for BSU administrators, led by Webb and Estey, who demanded a meeting with Fendley. 

Accounts vary of what was said at the meeting, and a secret recording of the meeting made by Estey that was played in court neither condemned nor exonerated either party.  

Fendley claims the administrators were anxious to force BCC out over the pro-police symbol and the resulting social media dustup. Estey and Webb claim the decision to close the location was entirely up to Fendley. 

The jury might have been swayed by testimony from Nicole Nimmons, a Boise State administrator who also participated in that fateful meeting. Nimmons was Fendley’s official contact at the university for the BCC lease.  

“I don’t believe that they left voluntarily,” Nimmons told the court, according to Idaho Ed News.  

The jury awarded Fendley $3 million in damages “for business losses, mental and emotional distress, personal humiliation and lost reputation,” and smacked Webb, who now works for the University of Montana, with an additional $1 million in punitive damages, reported BoiseDev.com  

“I’m thankful that the truth finally came out, and I’m thankful for the jury, for their time and their effort,” said Fendley after the trial. “It was a very long three weeks (in court). It’s been a very long four years. I’m just happy that it’s over.” 

The attorney who represented the two BSU administrators, Estey and Webb, said they would appeal the verdict, according to KTVB.  

“We respectfully but strongly disagree with today’s verdict and plan to appeal. We were honoring the First Amendment rights of all involved,” said attorney Keely Duke.  

Idaho Ed News said it was not yet clear whether an insurer or BSU would pay the judgment for Estey and Webb or if they are personally on the hook for the amounts.  

It called the verdict “bad optics” with bad timing.  

BSU’s president, Marlene Tromp, has been accused by critics of “leading the state’s largest university down a road to radical social justice policy,” said the Idaho Ed News analysis.  

The Idaho Legislature recently convened a joint working group, made up mostly of conservatives, on campus DEI programs. 

It’s “not clear what the group will do – and whether its findings and recommendations will translate into proposals before the 2025 Legislature, which convenes in January,” reported Idaho Ed News.