Family of Toddler Reaches $2 Million Lake County, Illinois Wrongful Death Settlement with Day-Care Center
The Deerfield family of 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan has reached a $2 million Lake County wrongful death agreement with day-care owner Minee-Subee in the Park Inc. Kingan sustained fatal injuries on January 14, 2009 while being cared for at the Lincolnshire facility.
Teacher’s assistant Melissa Calusinski is accused of taking the child, who had been sitting next to his twin, from his high chair and throwing him onto the ground. Benjamin then crawled back to his chair and fell unconscious.
The 23-year-old day-care worker allegedly waited 20 minutes before getting help for the toddler. Benjamin was pronounced dead at a Libertyville hospital. His cause of death was blunt force trauma. The Carpentersville woman is charged with the toddler’s murder.
According to the family’s Chicago wrongful death lawyer, the boy wouldn’t have died if only the day-care center had followed the law. Calusinski had been left alone with eight toddlers when she lost her temper. Day-care owner Judy Katz is accused of instructing employees to lie and tell investigators that the young teacher’s aide had never been left alone with that many kids. Katz is charged with obstruction of justice.
While it would be nice if it were a certainty that all day-care centers provided children with the proper care and made every effort to keep them safe from harm, this isn’t always the case. If your child was injured or died at a day-care center because of negligent or abusive care, you may have grounds for filing a Chicago injuries to minor case.
Injuries to minor lawsuits filed against US daycare-centers have included:
• Parents are accusing one day-care center of feeding their kids pickling salt, which caused burns, vomiting, and nausea, as punishment.
• An 18-month-old child returned from day-care with internal injuries and a broken clavicle. Her parents are alleging abusive care.
• The teenage son of an employee at one day-care center allegedly molested a 5-year-old girl.
Tot's family agrees to $2M settlement with day care, News-Sun, March 6, 2010
Family settles day-care death lawsuit, LincolnshireReview, Mach 5, 2010
Relayed Web Resource:
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
