The group is taking action against the district, alleging Davis School District and Davis High administrators violated their civil rights by failing to address their complaints that Davis High soccer coach Souli Phongsavath frequently engaged in a pattern of misconduct with female athletes, and then failed to keep their identities confidential, which resulted in retaliation both related to soccer and through physical violence by peers.

Phongsavath, reached Wednesday by the Standard-Examiner, denies he engaged in the behavior described in the lawsuit and maintains the investigations resulting from these complaints already cleared him of such allegations in November 2023.

Though the suit details the alleged behavior of Phongsavath, a teacher and coach at the high school for more than 20 years, Davis School District is listed as the sole defendant in the case. The law firm of Parsons, Behle and Latimer of Salt Lake City is representing six Jane Does and requests a trial by jury in the United States District Court for the District of Utah, Northern Division.

Davis School District declined to comment on the lawsuit to protect “the integrity of the legal process,” but said it “takes allegations of misconduct seriously.”

Photo supplied, Gabriel Finlinson

The lawsuit claims that DSD violated Title IX, the federal law banning sex-based discrimination in educational programs or activities that receive federal funding, and that the district failed to protect the plaintiffs after peers retaliated against them.

“In addition to the obvious emotional trauma of being betrayed by their coach and by the District, and the physical trauma of being assaulted and battered due to the District’s failure to protect their identities, Plaintiffs’ educational and sports-related aspirations have been damaged by the District’s acts and omissions,” the lawsuit reads.

The plaintiffs allege a pattern of misconduct in Phongsavath’s class, at practice, through team-related off-campus events and in online and text communications related to the girls soccer team.

But the crux of the lawsuit against the district alleges the plaintiffs were victims of retaliation, including physical violence and verbal threats, by their teammates and supporters of Phongsavath after they reported the alleged misconduct because their identities were not protected. Some students, the court filing says, assaulted the plaintiffs on several occasions because DHS administration and/or district officials “unlawfully leaked information about the investigation.”

Phongsavath resigned from coaching abruptly in November 2023 following 16 seasons, 270 wins and five state championships as the girls soccer head coach, as well as two state championships as the boys soccer head coach.

The school’s now two-year-old internal review did not result in disciplinary action against Phongsavath. Phongsavath is still employed as a teacher at Davis High.

According to the lawsuit, Phongsavath is alleged to have encouraged members of the girls soccer teams to re-create popular music videos, which once resulted in the re-creation of Miley Cyrus’s controversial 2013 “Wrecking Ball” video that involved inappropriate dress and actions. It also is said to have resulted in multiple teenage girls sporting bikinis on school grounds.

Phongsavath is also accused of attending pool parties where he allegedly judged girls in dance contests. According to the lawsuit, a district employee told him to “stop attending such parties.”

Additionally, Phongsavath is alleged to have used his in-school soccer class to normalize “sexually charged conversations” with players, including the plaintiffs, and pressed for “invasive” details about their physical relationships with their dates or romantic partners.

Phongsavath’s attorney, Mitchell Stephens of James Dodge Russell and Stephens in Salt Lake City, sent the Standard-Examiner the following statement:

“These allegations were taken seriously and reviewed through multiple independent processes over an extended period of time,” Stephens wrote. “Each review concluded without findings of misconduct. Mr. Phongsavath respects the process and is grateful that the facts ultimately spoke for themselves. He is confident they will do so again.”

As the investigation wrapped up and Phongsavath stepped down as soccer coach “in an effort to reduce disruption to students and the program,” his lawyer says, students wore red clothes and distinctive armbands or bracelets in support of Phongsavath; those without were considered “part of the problem” and were targeted, the lawsuit says.

After the plaintiffs say they were physically assaulted and also faced retaliation on the soccer team, the lawsuit alleges Davis School District ignored and downplayed those reports of physical violence, took no action to protect the plaintiffs and “acted recklessly in conscious disregard” of the continued risk posed to those students.

The lawsuit claims inaction against Phongsavath’s behavior and the resulting retaliation against the plaintiffs meant “the district effectively required acquiescence to that behavior as a condition of participation in girls soccer at Davis High School.”

The case was filed Monday and has been accepted by the office of Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, a representative for the plaintiffs told the Standard-Examiner. The identities of the plaintiffs were not disclosed in the lawsuit to protect their privacy and safety.