A new lawsuit names the Thousand Oaks-based Conejo Recreation and Park District as a defendant in the death of an 8-year-old boy at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas.

Plaintiff Hayley Weiser filed the complaint Aug. 26 in Santa Monica Superior Court, alleging the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) and other agencies knew the tree was dropping branches a week before the July 9, 2025, incident that killed Lamar McGlothurn, The Acorn reported.

Weiser claims she was grazed by the falling branch and witnessed McGlothurn's death. She alleges she has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, anxiety, depression and physical injury.

The CRPD is named as a defendant because it is one of the public agencies that partnered to form the MRCA, which manages open space and parkland across the region's mountain ranges. The lawsuit also names Gomez Landscape and Tree Care, the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Prior warning alleged

The complaint's central allegation: officials knew the tree posed a danger. Seven days before the fatal incident, another large branch fell from the same oak, and defendants hired Gomez Landscape and Tree Care to remove it, according to the complaint.

No one cordoned off the area. The tree showed visible evidence of decay, but children and families continued to gather beneath it, the complaint alleges. It calls the branch fall a preventable failure, not a spontaneous act of nature.

Communications obtained through public records requests support the timeline. The Los Angeles Times reported that an MRCA division chief wrote in an email the day after the July 2, 2025, branch fall: "Wow. That was a massive branch. Thank god no one was seriously hurt or killed."

A tree care company employee wrote in a text message the day before the fatal incident that it would "be wise to thin the canopy and alleviate end weight at a minimum to mitigate risk," the New York Post reported.

The July 2025 incident

McGlothurn was attending Camp Wildcraft, an outdoor day camp held at the 588-acre ranch off Mulholland Highway. He was waiting with others around a picnic table to be picked up when cracks sounded overhead and the branch fell, according to The Acorn. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department estimated the branch at 25 to 30 feet long.

McGlothurn's parents arrived and tried to lift the branch off their son. He was taken to a hospital but died from his injuries. Four other people were hurt, including an 11-year-old girl who was airlifted with a broken leg, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Camp Wildcraft was operating at King Gillette Ranch for the first time that summer after its regular location was affected by the Palisades fire.

$19.3 million settlement preceded this suit

McGlothurn's family previously sued the MRCA, Camp Wildcraft and Gomez Landscape and Tree Care for wrongful death. That case settled in April 2026 for $19.3 million, with MRCA insurers paying about $16 million and insurers for the camp and tree care company contributing roughly $3 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.

No public response from CRPD or the MRCA regarding the Weiser lawsuit has been reported.

A case management conference in the Weiser lawsuit is scheduled for Feb. 23, 2027, before Judge Susan Bryant-Deason in Santa Monica Superior Court.