Witness list grows in lawsuit against APS
ALPENA — A witness list in a lawsuit where a mother claims Alpena Public Schools officials failed to protect her daughter from sexual assault has grown to include upwards of 80 people.
The mother claims in the lawsuit her daughter was sexually assaulted twice while she attended Besser Elementary School and that school staff failed to keep the perpetrator away from her.
The News does not identify survivors of sexual assault without their consent.
The district’s attorney, Greg Mair, of the Saginaw-based law firm O’Neill, Wallace, and Doyle, was not immediately available for comment.
Mair said in court documents district officials acted reasonably, in keeping with Michigan statute, and in no way caused injuries or damages to the girl or her family.
Court records show attorneys with the Southfield-based Christensen Law have filed seven supplemental witness lists — with some versions of the lists including as many as 82 potential witnesses — with the 26th Circuit Court in Alpena.
The mother’s attorney, David Christensen, said it is not unusual for that number of witnesses to be listed in the case. Christensen said attorneys list every person with some knowledge of the case or with an expertise that might be needed in a case if they are needed to testify in trial.
“If you never put them on a witness list then you can’t have them testify at trial, but as the case takes shape through all of the discovery and everything, you have a much clearer idea at the end of that, as to who you want to come in and testify at trial,” he said. “You have to put them on the list so the other side has notice they may be called so they can take the deposition or has questions about what they’re gonna say.”
Court records also showed attorneys have until the end of the month to complete their discovery and the case evaluation would take place in October. Christensen said a case evaluation is designed to help bring about a settlement in a civil case.
The lawsuit alleges district officials acted with “deliberate indifference” and took no reasonable measures to protect the alleged victim.
Criminal charges were filed against the male student for the first sexual assault, according to the lawsuit, but charges were dismissed because the alleged perpetrator, who has a disability, could not assist in his own defense.
The lawsuit claims the alleged victim was nine years old when the male classmate first sexually assaulted her at Besser Elementary School.
The male classmate was suspended for three days following the incident, but remained in the same classroom as the girl after returning from suspension. The lawsuit alleges he repeatedly sexually harassed her, even after she told him to stop.
The lawsuit claims the boy sexually assaulted her a second time, three months after the first assault was reported.
When both students reached middle school, the female student was reunited with the male student on the Thunder Bay Junior High School campus and on the school bus, where he verbally attacked and intimidated her, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the school district ignored their duties under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and officials ignored their duties when they knew of the harassment and failed to take reasonable measures to prevent further assaults. In doing so, the lawsuit alleges, the female student was deprived of her right to an education.
The lawsuit also claims the district was negligent by failing to properly supervise, correct, and train aides, which the mother called “conduct so reckless as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury results.”