BOISE, Idaho — A lawsuit continues after years of litigation. I'm your neighborhood reporter, Jessica Davis, sitting down with the former owner of Big City Coffee about her legal battle with Boise State University.
Big City Coffee owner Sarah Jo Fendley was awarded another $1.6 million in March as part of an amended judgment in her lawsuit against Boise State University.
That, in addition to the $4 million she was awarded in compensatory and punitive damages in 2024, brings her total award to more than $5 million.
It comes after Big City Coffee replaced Starbucks in the BSU Library back in 2020.
Owner Sarah Jo Fendley claims the "Thin Blue Line" flag on display at the downtown location led to discrimination, causing her business to leave Boise State’s campus.
“I still firmly believe that standing up for myself was the right thing to do. Did it come at great personal cost? Yes, it did,” said Fendley.
Fendley says this battle was long.
BSU filed a few motions to dismiss or overturn previous judgments and asked for a new trial, but she says the judge denied those requests.
Fendley said, “The judge responded, and she reduced my business losses that the jury awarded me of a million dollars to $696,000 and some change, which is exactly what my expert testified to.”
Fendley says she won’t touch this money just yet as the legal battle continues.
She says, “It sounds like a large amount of money, but you have to amortize it out over four years and counting, and still not done. Every time BSU appeals or files another extension, it just adds more time to it.”
Fendley has since sold the downtown business, where she served Boiseans for 24 years.
Now she spends her time baking and working on a cookbook, but she says the legal fight continues.
According to court documents, Boise State has filed an appeal, which could extend the case even further.
We reached out to the university and are waiting for additional information.
