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KAYSVILLE — A second student is suing the Davis County School District over alleged sexual relationships between former English teacher Brianne Altice and three male students.
In a civil lawsuit filed April 8, one of the three alleged victims and his parents argue that the school district and Davis High School failed to thoroughly investigate Altice's background before hiring her and did not properly train their staff to report suspected inappropriate behavior.
According to the lawsuit, Altice's relationships with her students was known to students and staff at the school and should have been detected and dealt with by administrators.
"The running joke amongst the students at DHS was, 'Who is Ms. Altice sleeping with now?'" the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit asks for at least $300,000 for counseling and court expenses.
Another of the alleged victims and his parents filed a lawsuit against the school district last month seeking at least $674,000 in damages. In the lawsuit, that boy's parents claim that because of the district's negligence, their son suffered "severe psychological and/or physical injury, mental pain and experiences emotional anguish."
Altice, 35, is facing four separate trials for allegations that she had sex with three students, who were between 16 and 17 years old at the time, while she was teaching at Davis High School and while she was out on bail. Altice was to appear in court Thursday to schedule the trials, but that hearing was moved to April 22.
Altice faces a total of 14 felony charges, including rape, forcible sodomy, forcible sexual abuse, unlawful sexual activity with a minor and dealing in materials harmful to a minor.
The latest lawsuit alleges that Altice accepted compliments like "you're sexy" from students in front of their peers, allowed the teenage boys to stay in her classroom rather than attending their own classes and confided with the victims about her marital problems. Altice allegedly met the teens for sexual encounters in parking lots, parks and her home.
Since the relationship with Altice, the student named in the lawsuit claims he has suffered physical pain and injuries as well as severe psychological injuries including distress, fear, humiliation, injury to self-esteem, confusion and intimidation.
Additionally, the victim's parents claim to have experienced "severe fear, distress and other physiological and physical injuries from learning of the degrading and shocking sexual abuses of their child and how DHS and DCSD's conscious decisions and failures usurped their parental prerogative to protect (their son)."
