San Jose at center of lawsuit seeking a halt to teacher-student online, text interactions

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - They're calling it a landmark lawsuit on behalf of a child victim. Attorneys say they needed to take action after San Jose's Union School District failed to protect their then 13-year old client from an alleged sexual predator.

Music teacher Samuel Neipp is accused of assaulting the girl for three years at Dartmouth Middle School at 5575 Dartmouth Dr.

He was arrested in October of 2017 and at that time. a second alleged victim came forward.

Robert Allard, attorney with Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard said, "Enough is enough. And we just have to do something about it. And the courts are going to have to step in and do their jobs for them as it relates to protecting kids from pedophiles."

They're asking the courts to mandate policies. Among them: prohibiting communication through text or social media, eliminating locks on teacher offices, and requiring training about what they call "grooming behavior."

They said in their client's case the school ignored numerous red flags, including written complaints from two mothers.

"There was almost 400 text messages between the two, some of them late at night. One of them said, "I miss you," attorney Laren Cerri said. 

The Union School District released a statement saying in part, they will "continue to work towards ensuring that every one of our students feels safe at school."

The victim's family said that's the goal of this lawsuit too.

Alllard said, "That was the most important thing to them...make it so this doesn't happen to someone else. This is just egregious."

They allege the school district simply didn't do enough to protect their daughter. They hope this lawsuit will lead to changes for the future.

He says, "We have predatory behavior. We have schools doing nothing about it, bringing it in house, conducting self serving investigations, and the kids suffer."

Neipp remains behind bars. His next court date is set for March 4.