This story originally was published at BoiseDev.com.

Four years after the tensions of 2020 began and the fallout from Big City Coffee leaving its short-lived Boise State University location, attorneys are finally facing off in the courtroom.

On Thursday, lawyers stood before the jury on the second day of the trial between Big City Coffee and its owner Sarah Jo Fendley, and two Boise State University administrators: Vice President for University Affairs and Chief of Staff Alicia Estey and former Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Leslie Webb, who now works for the University of Montana.

This jury trial, set to take up to nine days, stems from litigation that began in 2021 when Fendley filed a $10 million tort claim against the university and several administrators. Owner Sarah Jo Fendley alleged that having to vacate her on-campus business following student upheaval in the wake of Minnesota resident George Floyd’s death violated the Idaho Consumer Protection Act and her constitutional rights. Some students questioned the coffee shop’s display of the Thin Blue Line flag at its downtown location and called for the closure of its Albertsons Library location.

Since then, the case has gone through years of hearings, motions and back and forth. It now is focused on the question of whether Estey and Webb violated Fendley’s rights in their personal capacity. The portions of the suit against the university as a whole, Vice President for Equity Initiatives Francisco Salinas, and President Marlene Tromp were thrown out by Judge Cynthia Yee-Wallace.

Now, a jury will decide whether the two administrators violated the First Amendment.

Big City Coffee alleges retaliation for law enforcement ties

Fendley’s attorney, Michael Roe, with firm Givens Pursley, started his opening statement with strong words.

“My client was sacrificed,” he said. “In October 2020, the defendants forced my client from the Boise State University campus in order to appease a small group of student activists who objected to my client’s support of law enforcement and the Thin Blue Line in particular. That removal violated Sarah Fendley’s First Amendment right to free speech.”

Roe continued to share Fendley’s story of building a community of employees and law enforcement supporters around Big City Coffee, including her longtime friendship, and eventual romantic relationship, with BPD officer Kevin Holtry. Holtry is an amputee who uses a wheelchair after he was shot multiple times in the line of duty in 2016. Fendley and Holtry were engaged, but are not any longer. He said her open display of the Thin Blue Line flag at her location comes from her support of law enforcement and not in opposition to Black Lives Matter or any other group.

He said her display of pro-law enforcement flags attracted the attention of a Boise State student in late October, who shared on her Snapchat story a photo of a sign advertising Big City Coffee on campus and encouraged students not to support the business if they wanted to support people of color at the school. Roe said Fendley responded with a Facebook post telling the story of her relationship with Holtry and why she feels as strongly as she does about taking a stand for the Thin Blue Line flag.

Roe said this ended in Fendley being summoned to a surprise meeting with Webb, Estey and an Aramark official where she says she asked to have support like other vendors on campus were given and instead was told to leave campus. Aramark is the company in charge of food vendors on campus. He said Fendley also refused to sign on to public statements saying she voluntarily left campus twice because she felt she was asked to leave, which forced her to lose more than $100,000 she spent on opening and also ultimately led to the end of her romantic relationship with Holtry among other issues.

Reo plans to call Nicole Nimmons, the Boise State employee Fendley was most closely working with on her location as a witness. Other witnesses include Fendley’s therapist, Holtry, and a former Boise State student body president, who he says was impeached over his stance on Big City Coffee on campus.

“The entire episode was devastating to my client,” Roe told the jury. “Sarah and the other witnesses will tell you about the damages she suffered. It cost her $125,000 she invested in that location, which she wasn’t able to recoup and was not reimbursed for. It cost her hundreds of thousands of lost profit. You’ll hear that the defendants’ actions damaged my client’s reputation, damaged her personal relationships, caused her severe emotional distress.”

Estey, Webb attorney: Fendley ‘demanded special treatment’

Estey and Webb’s attorney, Keely Duke, painted a different picture for the jury.

She said facts and evidence will instead show that Estey and Webb didn’t succumb to the pressure of student activists and instead were trying to enforce the First Amendment’s protections for everyone, instead of using the university’s power to squelch speech that made Fendley uncomfortable.

“We’re here because Sarah Fendley demanded special treatment and she was told no by Leslie Webb and Alicia Estey,” Duke told the jury. “She was told ‘no, we cannot keep students from expressing their opinions about Big City’, ‘no, we cannot weaponize the student code of conduct to punish students for expressing opinions that you do not like’, and last, she was told ‘no, a public entity cannot be forced to choose a side.’”

Duke noted two instances of complaints or inquiries about Big City Coffee, its open support of law enforcement, and the campus location. Instead of forcing Big City Coffee to leave, she said staff dialogued with students to try and resolve the issue.

She also said Fendley didn’t see protests at the store, nor did she feel the impact of a large scale boycott. She also said Fendley didn’t talk to any students or see any other evidence to suggest operating her store was unsafe before closing the campus location after her Facebook post.

She also characterized Fendley’s meeting with Estey and Webb differently, noting that Holtry promised to go to the press and share that students were not held accountable for posting about her and that he would no longer support Boise State. Duke also told the jury that during the meeting, which Estey recorded, Fendley said she didn’t want to stay at Boise State where she wasn’t being supported against criticism, even though anyone is entitled to disagree with her on her stance.

Duke also said during the meeting Fendley asked to be let out of her contract with Aramark early, instead of needing to wait 60 days, which indicates she quit instead of being forced to leave.

“They did not tell Sarah Fendley to stop supporting the Thin Blue Line,” Duke said. “They did not tell Fendley to stop expressing her support of the police. They did not ask Sarah Fendley to delete her post. They did not tell Sarah Fendley she should not post going forward. They did not tell Sarah Fendley she had to leave campus and they did not tell her the contract was terminated or the relationship was over. All of it will be evidence in this case.”