A West Virginia high school principal, Eric James, 53, is being sued by 11 students who allege he installed hidden cameras in the girls' locker room at Brooke High School and watched a livestream of them undressing. The case matters because it centres on the alleged abuse of a position of trust by a senior school authority figure, with both James and the Brooke County Board of Education named as defendants in multiple lawsuits accusing the district of failing to prevent the misconduct despite prior warnings.

James, who has been principal since 2023, faces criminal charges of intercepting electronic communications and breaking and entering after deputies found a hidden camera last week. As well as a purported class action filed on behalf of eight pupils, three individual civil suits have been lodged, including from a soccer player who says James would let her into a locked locker room and then vanish, and a student from a rival school who used the facilities while visiting. The suits allege earlier misconduct complaints were made against James at Cameron High School, where he taught from 2000 to 2018, and seek unspecified monetary damages for emotional distress and violation of privacy.