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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A judge agreed Thursday to toss a lawsuit filed against a Utah school district by a teenager who was one of three victims in a teacher sex case.
The Utah attorney general's office says there was no settlement in the suit. Mark Carlson, a lawyer for the student and his parents, moved to withdraw the lawsuit but declined to comment on the decision.
The student and his parents had alleged that Davis County School District officials knew English teacher Brianne Altice, 35, was behaving inappropriately but didn't do enough to protect students.
Attorneys said in court documents that the running joke at the high school was "Who is Ms. Altice sleeping with now?"
State attorneys representing the district countered that schools aren't liable for injuries resulting from assaults, including sexual assaults.
Altice also filed a handwritten response to the civil suit. She said she couldn't afford an attorney but denied that school authorities knew about inappropriate behavior with male students. She also denied allowing the teens to come to her room while they were skipping other classes.
The school district is still facing a second lawsuit filed by another victim in the case. Attorneys there allege that district officials had seen photos of Altice with a male student and reprimanded her but didn't take further steps. The district has yet to respond in that case.
A former principal at Davis High School testified in January that he got an anonymous letter containing pictures of her having a picnic with a student in a park in August 2013. Dee Burton said he warned Altice not to get too close to her students and she told him she was helping the boy with family problems.
Altice was accused of sex with three male students when they were 16 and 17 and pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges in a deal with prosecutors. She is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
Her attorney, Ed Brass, has said she took the deal because she wanted to resolve the case to avoid risking an uncertain outcome at trial. He previously defended Altice, saying she was no longer the boys' teacher when the sex occurred.
The Associated Press does not generally name victims of sexual assault.
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