Utah Supreme Court Upholds Teacher Student Ruling

Back in February of this year, Judge Thomas Kay threw the book at the 35-year-old former Davis High School English teacher Brianne Altice. For her sexual relationships with 3 underage students, she is currently serving 30 years inside the walls of the Utah State Prison.

But one of the plaintiffs in the case decided to file a lawsuit for grievances against the Davis School District itself, seeking some $674,000 in damages.

That victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, alleged that Miss Altice had been terminated from a prior job for sexual misconduct before Davis High School hired her and that she had been previously reprimanded by the school before the relationship began. According to his grievances lawsuit, the Davis High School should have checked this before hiring her.

However, the Utah Supreme court has now ruled that, under Utah law, the school district is a state entity immune from liability for physical and emotional harm suffered as the result of physical battery, in other words, even though they admit that because of a mistake the school made the teen suffered, the school district cannot be held accountable as it is not a legal entity.

Whilst identifying Miss Altice only as ‘the teacher,’ the high court decision stated that:

"It might seem counterintuitive that our law provides no civil remedy against a school district that is alleged to have negligently hired and retained a teacher who has illegal sexual contact with her minor students. But this conclusion is, in our view, compelled by the (Governmental Immunity) Act and by Utah Supreme Court precedent."

However, there are grounds for the teen’s defense team to go even higher with this, as the decision does admit that already in 1993 when ruling in a similar case, the high court had invited lawmakers to change the immunity status of the school district, something which they have not done since.

"In the intervening years, however, our Legislature has not amended the Act to expressly provide for such a remedy," the decision states."Under the language of the Act … the district is entirely immune from suit for the acts alleged here. Accordingly, the district court correctly dismissed (the teen's) complaint."

Another victim of Miss Altice filed a similar suit, which was also dismissed by a district court judge.

Source:

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900005030/utah-high-court-upholds-dismissal-of-lawsuit-over-teachers-relationship-with-student.html