The grandparents of a Saskatchewan teenager are suing their grandson’s vice-principal for reading his text messages and forcing him to cooperate with police to recover a stolen car, according to a statement of claim filed Thursday.

The grandparents, who are not named in the $50,000 lawsuit, argue the Prince Albert school official and the school board invaded their grandson’s privacy and jeopardized his safety, saying they now live “in constant fear of retaliation.”

The student, who was then 12 but is now 14, had to leave Prince Albert and his school, say his grandparents, who are also the boy’s guardians.

Neither police nor school officials “had the right to involve the minor in rendering assistance in locating the allegedly stolen vehicle without, at least, first informing the legal guardians of the situation and seeking the attendance and permission of the legal guardians to use the minor and his cellular telephone as tools of investigation,” states the claim, which has not been proven in court.

Reached at home Thursday afternoon, the school’s vice-principal Dwayne Tournier referred all comment to the school board’s director, Robert Bradford, who did not respond to interview requests left at his home and office.

The incident occurred on March 10, 2010, when the boy’s cellphone was confiscated after it rang in class. It was turned over to Tournier, who read the text messages on the phone, according to the claim.

Tournier questioned the boy about a text from someone named “Lloyd,” who sent a message the previous night about stealing a car. Tournier demanded the boy reveal “Lloyd’s” last name, but the boy said he did not know it, the claim states.

When the boy insisted he did not know the sender’s last name, Tournier called the Prince Albert police, according to the claim, which then states that police officers told the boy to send “Lloyd” a text message to determine the location of the stolen car. When “Lloyd” replied with the location of the car, police took the boy in a police cruiser to the vehicle, recovered it and then returned the boy to school.

“There is now no question that ‘Lloyd’ and his accomplices are now aware that the stolen vehicle was located using the minor as an informant,” the claim states.

Although school board officials could not be reached for comment, local media reported the board’s statement of defence claims that once police were called, school staff “had no further involvement.” The board also denies that it invaded the student’s privacy, stating the boy did not have “any reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to text messages sent or received by him using his cellular telephone during school hours,” which is against school policy.

Tournier, who is named in the lawsuit, attempted to have the case against him dismissed, claiming immunity from liability under the Education Act, according to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. The application was denied last month, the paper reports.