Mother asks court to prohibit teacher contact

LACONIA — An area school teacher is asking a Superior Court judge to dismiss a case, brought by the mother of a former student, which asks that the court order the teacher to stay away from her daughter.

Judge James D. O’Neill III heard arguments Monday in Belknap Superior Court from attorneys representing the mother and Tanner Van Ness, 31, of 106 Wildwood Drive, in Pittsfield.

The mother, who has filed the civil case on behalf of her now-14-year-old daughter, is seeking a restraining order against Van Ness, who is not facing any criminal charges.

Van Ness was one of the girl’s eighth-grade teachers when she was a student at Barnstead Elementary School in 2016-17, according to court records. He is currently employed as a teacher at Laconia Middle School, but has been on paid leave since late April, according to Laconia Superintendent Dr. Brendan Minnihan.

Van Ness’ attorney, Jonathan Coen, asked O’Neill to dismiss the case because essentially the same case had already been heard — and dismissed — in District Court. Coen invoked a legal precedent, arguing the final judgment issued in April in the Fourth Circuit Court-District Division-Laconia, precludes the mother from relitigating issues that were or could have been raised in that action.

In April the daughter, via her mother, asked the lower court to issue a stalking order against Van Ness.

The mother wrote in the initial complaint that Van Ness would meet after school with her daughter and other students to chat and play video games. The mother said she met with Van Ness to tell him that that type of socializing was inappropriate and unprofessional. She stated that while Van Van Ness disagreed, he agreed to stop the after-school contacts.

However, the mother alleged that the teacher continued to exchange emails with her daughter, and had casual conversations with the student, in one case while she was on a walk, and another time outside Laconia Middle School adjacent to Opechee Park where her brother was playing in a soccer game. On April 7, the mother, said she found an email from Van Ness’ wife, telling the daughter to cease email contact with Van Ness and threatening to tell the daughter’s parents if she continued to do so.

Judge James Carroll dismissed the District Court case on April 26, concluding that Van Ness' actions, while worrisome, did not meet the legal threshold required to issue a stalking order because there was no evidence Van Ness had done anything that would cause the daughter to fear for her safety.

Robert Hunt, the mother’s attorney, argued that the ruling in District Court did not resolve the matter, and so the case for the restraining order should be allowed to proceed.

O’Neill said he would take the matter under advisement, but gave no indication when he might issue his ruling.