$250,000 Injury Settlement - Abuse at a Child Care Facility

Raleigh Daycare Abuse Settlement Result

In 2023, we represented a young child who was abused by a teacher at a child care facility. Our team of daycare abuse and injury lawyers in Raleigh, NC settled the case against the teachers, administrators, and child care facility for $250,000.00.

The lawsuit arose out of an incident that occurred on May 4, 2021 when our minor client (then four years old) was sprayed with bleach by a teacher at a child care facility. When our client was picked up from the child care facility, her grandmother noticed what appeared to be bleach stains on her clothing. When initially questioned regarding the unusual stains, an employee at the child care facility suggested that our client’s clothing might've touched cleaning products that had been sprayed in the bathroom earlier that day. However, our client’s mother (also named as a Plaintiff) received a phone call from another parent who indicated that our client and several other children in the classroom had been sprayed with bleach by a teacher as a form of punishment. Video surveillance taken from the child care facility showed the teacher pick up the spray bottle of bleach from her desk, walk over to the table where our minor client was sitting, and spray in the direction of our client for several seconds.

The teacher initially denied that the spraying occurred. However, after being confronted with the video evidence, the teacher involved claimed that spraying our client with bleach was accidental. Through coordination with DHHS, we learned that an internal DHHS investigation had uncovered that at least six teachers at the child care facility had, for several years, regularly sprayed children with spray bottles of water to "get their attention," which is an unlawful form of discipline according to NC Child Care Laws. Through our investigation, it was discovered that the teacher responsible for spraying our minor client with bleach had not received any training from the child care facility before the incident, including mandatory safe discipline training required by NC Child Care Laws. The child care facility had been warned and received citations on several occasions prior the incident for failing to train its staff.

As a result of the incident, the minor Plaintiff underwent mental health counseling where she was diagnosed with pediatric post-traumatic stress disorder. Our firm also engaged a pediatric forensic psychologist to evaluate our minor client, who also the diagnosed her with PTSD and also opined that the incident amount to an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). ACEs play an important role in childhood development. During play therapy, it was revealed that other teachers at the child care facility may have abused our minor client, including when a teacher "hit her" for not listening. Fortunately, our client has made significant progress during this course of therapy, including improvement in her PTSD symptoms, and has a bright future.

This is just an example of one of the recent results by our team of daycare abuse lawyers in Raleigh, NC. With decades of collective experience, our injury attorneys have helped clients across North Carolina and South Carolina recover millions in damages against insurance companies, large corporations, employers, and the powerful.

Learn more about suing teachers, schools, and daycares for abusing students in North Carolina.