WELLSBURG — Seven additional female student-athletes have sued the Brooke County Board of Education and the former Brooke High School principal alleging they were secretly recorded while using the girls’ locker room.
The plaintiffs, who are unnamed in the complaints, include Brooke High students as well as visiting student-athletes from West Virginia and Ohio schools. The seven lawsuits filed September 10 all claim former principal Eric James installed hidden cameras in the locker room and changing areas. They also say the Brooke County school system knew or should have known about the devices.
The visiting student-athletes attend John Marshall High School in Marshall County, The Linsly School in Wheeling and Buckeye Local High School in Belmont County, Ohio.
“Our clients are terrorized and angry,” attorney Teresa Toriseva, whose firm filed the seven new complaints, told The West Virginia Record. “Our entire community wants answers.
“We intend to seek those answers and help expose the conditions that allowed this to occur.”
According to the complaints, the students say they were required to use Brooke High’s girls’ locker room for changing, showering and restroom access.
West Virginia Regional Jail Authority photo
“The cameras were set up surreptitiously by defendant Eric James to secretly record minor female students in various states of undress,” the complaints state, adding the recording could have included showering and restroom use.
James was arrested September 3 and faces criminal charges connected to the investigation.
The lawsuits say James allegedly viewed live footage while the plaintiffs were in the locker room. They further allege the devices captured audio, although the complaint says it is unknown whether any recordings or images were downloaded, saved to portable devices, shared or viewed by others.
The plaintiffs allege James acted outside the scope of his employment and “with malicious purpose, in bad faith or wantonly” in installing and operating the alleged devices. The board is accused of having a duty to protect the minor while she was on school property for a school-sanctioned activity.
James is named individually and in his former capacity as Brooke High’s principal. The board and school system are accused of failing to detect, prevent, remove or investigate the alleged recording devices and of negligently hiring, supervising and retaining James.
The complaints include 14 counts, including invasion of privacy, negligence, negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention, negligence per se, premises liability and an alleged violation of the West Virginia Constitution’s due-process clause.
They also allege violations of state statutes addressing criminal invasion of privacy, nonconsensual disclosure of private intimate images and interception of communications under the state Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act.
The plaintiffs claim mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, economic damages and other injuries. They seek damages to be determined at trial, interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief. The plaintiffs claim mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, economic damages and other injuries.
Toriseva
The seven new plaintiffs are being represented by Toriseva and Josh Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling. They also filed two other lawsuits last week regarding the cameras at Brooke High. At least three other lawsuits have been filed, and two of them are potential class actions.
The suits are the latest civil actions in West Virginia involving allegations of hidden recording devices in women’s locker room or shower facilities.
More than 70 lawsuits were filed in 2024 over alleged hidden cameras at the West Virginia State Police Academy in Institute. Many plaintiffs in those cases also proceeded anonymously, alleging they were secretly recorded while changing or showering and did not know whether recordings had been retained or shared.
A separate proposed class action over the State Police Academy allegations said women and minors may have been captured by hidden devices and alleged that evidence was concealed or destroyed.
Earlier this month, another class action was filed related to hidden cameras found in a staff bathroom at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
Per an order, all of the individual Brooke High lawsuits filed by Toriseva have been assigned to Circuit Judge David J. Sims.
Brooke Circuit Court case numbers 26-C-88 through 26-C-94
