A federal judge has ruled that the Philadelphia School District is immune from a lawsuit stemming from an incident where a student was allegedly choked by his special education teacher. The judge, however, determined that the plaintiffs should still be able to seek punitive damages against the teacher over the conduct.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted much of the school district’s efforts to dismiss the case, captioned Tucker v. School District of Philadelphia, finding that the plaintiffs failed to adequately plead their failure to train claims and that the school was immune from the intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery claims.