Frank Z. v. Los Angeles Unified School Dist. CA2/2

FACTS

Plaintiff’s Government Claim On April 1, 2014, plaintiff Frank Z., then 22 years of age, presented a claim for damages to defendant Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) arising from the acts of codefendant Mark Berndt, a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School. Since 1990, students allegedly complained to LAUSD staff that Berndt engaged in inappropriate conduct, such as masturbating at his desk during class, trying to touch a student’s genitals, and having children eat cookies covered with a shiny, whitish substance. Plaintiff alleges that LAUSD did not act upon the complaints. In 2011, a criminal investigation was instituted when the sheriff’s department received photographs taken by Berndt, depicting blindfolded children with tape over their mouths. Some had a blue plastic spoon near their mouths, filled with a white, murky substance. A search of Berndt’s home turned up hundreds of photographs, and a blue spoon and container that tested positive for Berndt’s semen. Berndt was removed from the classroom in 2011, then arrested in 2012. In 1999-2000, when plaintiff was eight or nine years old, he was a student in Berndt’s classroom. Plaintiff declares that Berndt acted…