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Dismissal of former student's suit over sex with Utah teacher upheld in seemingly 'counterintuitive' ruling

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brianne Altice at a sentencing hearing before 2nd Judge Thomas L. Kay on July 9, 2015. Altice was sentenced to up to 30 years.

The Utah Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that accused Davis County School District of negligence in hiring and retaining teacher Brianne Altice, who is serving up to 30 years in prison for having illegal sexual contact with three minor students.

A three-judge panel handed down a unanimous decision on Nov. 30 agreeing with 2nd District Judge John Morris that the school district is immune from suit under the Governmental Immunity Act of Utah.

The suit, filed in March 2015 by one of the students and his parents, had sought at least $600,000 for medical expenses and severe emotional distress stemming from sexual abuse by Altice. The Tribune generally does not name victims of sexual abuse.

The suit alleged Altice, an English teacher at Davis High School in Kaysville, and the then-17-year-old boy began a relationship in early 2013 that included flirtations during class and rendezvous on school grounds. The teacher, then 33, was once reprimanded for having inappropriate contact with a student but the district did not terminate her or sufficiently supervise her, according to the suit.

Lawyers for the Davis School District argued in court papers that schools are protected from liability when students are assaulted and asked that the suit be thrown out. After Morris granted the request, the student and his parents asked the Utah Court of Appeals to overturn the decision.

Writing for the court, Judge Ryan Harris acknowledged “it might seem counterintuitive” that Utah law provides no civil remedy against a school district in the student’s case and others like it. But that conclusion is “compelled” by the immunity act and the state Supreme Court’s interpretation of it in previous cases, he wrote.

The decision noted that the Utah Supreme Court reluctantly dismissed a somewhat similar case in 1993 and invited legislative action by declaring that it is “unfortunate that any parent who is required by state law to send his or her child to school lacks a civil remedy against negligent school personnel who fail to assure the child’s safety at school.”

“In the intervening years, however, our legislature has not amended the Act to expressly provide for such a remedy,” Harris wrote, adding that the district is “entirely immune from the acts alleged here.”

Judges Kate Toomey and Jill Pohlman joined Harris in the decision.

Altice, now 38, was accused in late 2013 of having sexual relationships with three male students and charged with multiple felonies. Each of the three teen boys testified at separate preliminary hearings that they had sexual intercourse with Altice.

The ex-teacher pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and was sentenced in July 2015 to a 1-to-15-year prison term for each charge. Two sentences run concurrently with each other and the third consecutively.

Under a decision by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, Altice will remain behind bars until at least spring 2019.