CREVE COEUR, Mo. — A family has filed a lawsuit against KinderCare and a former daycare teacher that says their 9-month-old daughter was injured by the teacher.
The lawsuit, filed by Gorovsky Law, LLC, said the 9-month-old was at the facility on Portaluca Drive in Creve Coeur. It alleges the teacher hit the baby girl for at least an hour for crying while the teacher was trying to put her down for a nap.
The lawsuit said other employees could hear the hits through the walls of the facility. When the parents took their baby girl home, they noticed heavy bruising all over her back.
The lawsuit said a KinderCare Center director told investigators that none of the other teachers knew how the girl was injured, but six other teachers told investigators that the teacher mentioned in the suit caused the injuries.
That investigation also found that the facility was in violation of a state-mandated ratio of one adult for every four children on the day of the incident.
The suit said KinderCare was negligent in hiring the teacher due to a previous assault charge in Arizona and for failing to supervise her after multiple warnings about her behavior. A statement from KinderCare said the teacher was placed on administrative leave after the incident, in accordance with the companies protocol, and no longer works for them.
The suit is seeking punitive damages from the teacher for negligence and assault. It also seeks damages from KinderCare for negligent hiring negligent supervision of employees and children and negligent misrepresentation for advertising their school as a safe place for children.
KinderCare released the following statement in response to the suit:
Although we have not yet been served with this lawsuit, as soon as we receive the paperwork we will respond to the suit appropriately.
At KinderCare, we work hard to provide every child with a safe, nurturing environment to learn and grow in. We take all concerns about children’s safety seriously and follow a very specific protocol anytime a concern is raised. Part of that protocol includes reporting the concern to licensing and CPS and placing the teacher involved on administrative leave while we work with these agencies to look into the matter further.
The teacher involved in this matter no longer works for KinderCare.
