School district fights suit expansion

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama school system is fighting to prevent the expansion of a lawsuit filed by former students who say they were sexually molested by a longtime teacher, court documents show.

Shelby County Schools asked a federal judge this week to refuse class-action status for a suit filed by females who say they were abused by former teacher Danny Acker, who is now in prison.

Court records show the school system, located in suburban Birmingham, contends the case would be too complex if it involved all the young women who were abused by Acker, and that the law doesn’t allow for such cases to involve multiple plaintiffs with varying claims.

The lawsuit has only one named plaintiff now, and four more ex-students are suing anonymously in the same case. Approval as a class-action, a move requested by the plaintiffs, would allow additional people to join in the case.

Authorities say Acker confessed to molesting about 20 students during his career, and he pleaded guilty last year to eight felony charges involving six girls.

A judge in Shelby County sentenced Acker to 17 years in prison without the possibility of parole. He is being held in the state prison in Bullock County, which specializes in handling inmates with mental problems.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money from the Shelby County school board, a current and former board member, and Acker. It contends officials wrongly allowed Acker to remain a teacher in 1992 after he was accused of molesting a fourth- grade student, who is now grown and is among those who filed suit.