Local News in Brief : Ex-Teacher Sued Over Seduction of Student

A former Simi Valley teacher who admitted having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student has been sued for unspecified damages by the youth and his parents.

The suit, filed Friday in Ventura County Superior Court, accuses Carol Dougherty of assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Dougherty, 44, a former English teacher at Royal High School, pleaded guilty in April to three counts of oral copulation involving the youth. In May, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Robert McGrath banned Dougherty from associating with boys under 18 and subjected her to police visits without search warrants.

Dougherty resigned from her teaching post Dec. 20 after the boy’s mother complained to school officials.

Dougherty, the estranged wife of Ventura County Supervisor Jim Dougherty, accepted a plea bargain to avoid facing the publicity of a trial, she said at the time. In exchange for her guilty plea, 12 other counts, of oral copulation with a minor and child annoyance, were dismissed.

The school district, which is also named in the lawsuit, is accused of negligence in allowing Dougherty to continue teaching even though officials knew that Dougherty had been accused of sexual involvement with teen-agers.

The youth’s attorney, Mark S. Algorri, said his client, now 17, at one point dropped out of school and spent four months in intensive therapy at a Van Nuys hospital because of the incidents involving Dougherty. “This put a permanent black smudge on his life,” Algorri said.

The lawyer said he intends to seek $2.5 million from the defendants.

Barbara Spielman, director of public information for the school district, said there would be no comment on the lawsuit.

Dougherty could not be reached for comment.