Boise State University administrators owe a coffee shop owner $4 million after a jury unanimously ruled the school officials violated the woman’s First Amendment rights in a conflict over her public support of law enforcement.
The jury awarded Big City Coffee owner Sarah Fendley $3 million for lost business, reputational damage, mental and emotional distress and personal humiliation, in a decision reached Sept. 13. Jurors awarded her an additional $1 million in punitive damages from the school’s former vice president of student affairs.
Fendley originally sued the university for $10 million after she closed her campus shop in October 2020, according to local reports, arguing administrators conspired to retaliate against her for expressing pro-police views on social media.