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SALT LAKE CITY — Another victim in a teacher sex case is suing the Davis School District and Davis High School in federal court, saying administrators failed to protect him from her.
In the lawsuit, the boy, now an adult, claims that school supervisors had a duty to keep him from harassment and sexual abuse equal to the protection of other Davis High students, regardless of race or sex, under the 14th Amendment.
School administrators knew English teacher Brianne Altice engaged in inappropriate behavior during and after school, on and off school property, but did nothing to adequately protect the boy and the other victims, according to the suit filed last week in U.S. District Court.
Attorneys said in court documents that the running joke at the high school was, "Who is Ms. Altice sleeping with now."
The boy, who was 17 and in Altice's class in 2013 and also her teacher's assistant, confided in her about his troubled childhood and that he was physically and sexually abused as a child, the lawsuit says. Altice, the suit says, took advantage of his vulnerabilities and began flirting with him during school.
Police say Altice befriended the boy and two others while they were students, eventually progressing to three separate sexual relationships, meeting the teens for sex at parks, in cars and at her home while her husband was away. She has since divorced.
Altice pleaded guilty in April to three counts of forcible sexual abuse stemming from sexual relationships with the students who were 16 or 17 years old at the time. A 2nd District judge sentenced her to 30 years in prison.
One of the other victims and his parents sued Davis schools and Altice in federal court earlier this month after a judge dismissed their case in state court. A school district attorney argued that the district is immune from liability under state law that exempts state entities for physical and emotional harm suffered as the result of physical battery.
Both federal lawsuits seek an unspecified amount in damages for physical, mental and emotional pain, and expenses for counseling, therapy and related care and treatment. They also seek punitive damages against Altice.
