Ex-CHAMPS student’s lawsuit over off-campus shooting is tossed
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a former student wounded in 2018 by gunfire across the street from CHAMPS Charter High School of the Arts in Van Nuys.
Harper Maloney was 18 years old when he brought the negligence suit against the campus in June 2022 in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking damages.
On Thursday, Judge Lynne M. Hobbs dismissed the case after Maloney did not show up for the non-jury trial. He also did not appear at the Dec. 7 final status conference.
The judge’s ruling was “without prejudice,” meaning the lawsuit is subjected to being reinstated with the proper legal explanation. Maloney had been representing himself since July, when his attorney stepped down from the case.
According to Maloney’s suit, he went to lunch off-campus, which was allowed by the school administration, before the shooting.
“While (Maloney) was returning to campus, he was struck by a bullet fired by a third person and severely injured,” the suit stated. “As a result of the shooting and the failure to protect and serve their students, (Maloney) required emergency care to his physical injuries and suffers emotional distress.”
The shooting of Maloney, shot in a leg, and a teacher, in an arm, was reported at 12:12 p.m. on Sept. 20, 2018, near a Jack in the Box restaurant in the 6800 block of Van Nuys Boulevard, police have said. Maloney, then a junior, was released to a parent later in the day, according to the LAFD.
School staffers should have knows about dangerous conditions around the school and taken measures to protect the students, the suit says.
“This is a complete happenstance thing that occurred off-campus across the street, and unfortunately it happened while we were on lunch, so we had a student and a teacher that were across the street as well (and) they were injured,” Jordan Duke, a spokesman for the school, told the Southern California News Group the day of the shooting.
Following the shooting, the school immediately went on lockdown, Duke said.