North Texas Day Care Attempted to Cover Up Abuse of Toddler, Lawsuit Claims

The Button Law Firm's Texas daycare injury lawyers represent injured toddler's family in suit against Dunkin Academy, Inc.

DALLAS, Feb. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A North Texas mom has filed a lawsuit against Dunkin Academy, Inc., claiming a negligent employee caused the head injury of a boy, age 2 and a half. The complaint also alleges that the childcare facility attempted to cover up the abuse, providing a false incident report to the toddler's mom.

According to the lawsuit, in March 2022 the toddler was standing on a mat at Dunkin Academy day care in Forney when a caregiver employee aggressively ripped the mat from underneath his feet. The violent motion caused the toddler to fall headfirst on a hard tile floor, leaving him with a large painful bump to the right side of his forehead that remains visible, the complaint states. 

The complaint alleges Dunkin Academy attempted to cover up the boy's injury by not reviewing the day care's surveillance footage and falsely recounted the events in an incident report to the toddler's mom and the state of Texas. It wasn't until the toddler's mom demanded to view the video footage that the true cause of her son's injury—a Dunkin Academy employee—came to light. That's when she got law enforcement and the state involved, the suit reads. The lawsuit states that the day care continued to employ the caregiver responsible for the child's injury.

"Working parents like our client trust day cares to hire, train, and supervise qualified workers. They should not have to rely on surveillance cameras to find out what happened to their children," says attorney Russell Button of The Button Law Firm, who represents the toddler's family. "This horrific incident could have been prevented if Dunkin Academy had followed the state's mandated minimum care standards from the start."

The lawsuit states that, at the time of the incident, Dunkin Academy had a history of citations, inspections, investigations, and deficiencies from the state of Texas. Records show that the day care failed to ensure that the operation and its caregivers met the minimum standards, laws, and regulations in place to keep kids, including the toddler in this case, safe.

The lawsuit is filed as Ms. Ketter, Individually and as Next Friend of L.K., a minor child, vs. Dunkin Academy, Inc.; Dunkin Academy of Forney, Inc.; Dunkin Academy Management, LLC; and Dunkin Academy of Forney, LLC, Cause No. CC-23-00703-A in Dallas County, Texas.

About the Button Law Firm 
The Button Law Firm (https://www.buttonlawfirm.com) is a Texas-based personal injury law firm that advocates for children and their families in meaningful litigation to make local communities safer. The firm focuses on day care and child-related injuries such as abuse and neglect cases, finger injuries, toy-related injuries, burn injuries, and catastrophic injuries. With attorneys in Dallas, Houston, and Midland, The Button Law Firm fights for families across the Lone Star State.

SOURCE The Button Law Firm