A judge has issued a mixed ruling to a Westlake Village private school sued on behalf of a student who alleges he suffered permanent right eye damage from his confiscated laser device when his teacher shined it into his line of vision in the classroom in 2024.
In Friday’s ruling, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Karen Moskowitz denied a motion by Oaks Christian School to dismiss the boy’s claims for assault and battery. The school maintained the teacher’s alleged conduct had nothing to do with her employment and that the lawsuit indicated no information contending the school gave its approval.
However, the judge granted the school’s motion to strike allegations in the complaint related to punitive damages and negligence on its face. The judge heard arguments Tuesday and had taken the issues under submission.
In their previous court papers, defense attorneys said the boy had been disruptive in class. When the teacher offered to escort him to see the school nurse so she could look at his eye, he declined and said he did not want to be late for baseball practice, according to the defense lawyers’ pleadings.
The complaint states the boy, now 15, was a seventh grade student at Oaks Christian when on April 29, 2024, he took a “532nm 5 mw high power green laser pointer torch” to school and it was confiscated by his teacher.
About a week later, the boy asked the teacher to return the laser pointer and she said she would do so at week’s end, the suit states. The teacher then began pointing the laser at various objects in the classroom, including walls and various body parts of students, the suit filed in June 2025 further alleges.
The boy was sitting in class doing his work when the teacher allegedly pointed the device at his right eye, at which time he noticed a bright green light, according to the suit.
Minutes later, the boy experienced blurred vision in his right eye and he informed a classmate, the suit further states.
Oaks Christian is a college prep, day and boarding school for students in grades 4-12.