How BLF Helped a Kerrville Family Win a Settlement After Infant Injured Head and Broke Bones at Daycare Center

In March 2024, a 9-month-old boy suffered a severe head injury and broken clavicle when caregivers at his daycare center in Kerrville, Texas, did not strap him into a highchair. Because of the center’s lack of basic safety practices, the infant fell headfirst from the tall chair and slammed the right side of his body, including his head, shoulder, and arm, onto the hard floor at the daycare center.

Without receiving a phone call about the incident, the infant’s mother noticed her son had a knot on the right side of his head and was visibly uncomfortable when she picked him up from the Kerrville daycare center at the end of the workday. Caregivers did not give her any information about her son’s injury. She persisted in her questioning and demanded answers until the daycare center finally revealed the truth about the incident that caused his injuries.

The mother contacted our experienced daycare injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm, and our team got to work. We fought to hold the daycare center in Kerrville accountable for its safety failures that caused the infant’s serious injuries. With our help, the family was compensated for the child’s injuries, suffering, and lengthy medical treatments that were necessary to help him heal and move forward.

How Was This Family Let Down by the Daycare Center in Kerrville? 

The daycare center in Kerrville failed the infant boy and his mother in many ways because the daycare’s operations did not prioritize child safety. Texas childcare laws, also known as minimum standards, mandate the best practices that are intended to prevent injuries to children like the infant in this case. However, the minimum standards are only effective when daycare centers comply with them and ensure all caregivers are aware of and follow the practices while caring for little ones.

The Kerrville daycare center breached its duty to keep this little boy safe. In this case, his caregiver did not have any experience caring for infants and was unaware that using the highchair’s safety straps was necessary to keep the little boy safe. She also revealed in an investigation into the case that the Kerrville daycare center only provided her with a four-hour training session before putting her in charge of an infant classroom. (Minimum standards outline ongoing training requirements for caregivers, especially if they do not have experience watching over little ones. Also, daycare center directors and management teams are required to monitor caregivers throughout the day to ensure that minimum standards are being followed and all children are safe.)

The daycare center also failed to immediately contact the infant’s mother to relay what happened and complete an incident report as required by law. Therefore, the little boy was left to suffer in pain until the remainder of the workday when his mother came to take him home and noticed the knot on his head. Only then did she become aware that something was wrong with her son.

An independent investigation into the incident involving the infant conducted by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Child-Care Licensing Division, cited the Kerrville daycare center for:

• Providing the child’s mother with false information about her son’s injury and not reporting the incident to the daycare’s management team until the next day
• Not fastening the highchair’s safety straps while an infant was in the chair
• Failing to supervise children in its care properly. During the investigation, video footage showed another child climbing into an infant seat and falling backward without anyone noticing.

Sadly, the state’s investigation also found that the safety failure of not securing infants and young children into highchairs was a common practice at the center.

How Did The Button Law Firm Get Justice for This Family in Kerrville?

The infant, in this case, experienced severe injuries from his fall at the daycare center in Kerrville and had to undergo several exams and costly medical treatments. This mother immediately noticed something was wrong with her son upon picking him up from the daycare center—he was crying and had trouble moving his arms—and rushed him to a local emergency room. There, doctors suspected he was suffering from a bone injury and ran radiological tests. He was diagnosed with arm pain and seen by his pediatrician because the pain in his right shoulder persisted, and he refused to use the arm. It wasn’t until an orthopedist saw him that he was diagnosed with a fractured clavicle.

He suffered in pain for a prolonged amount of time during his long healing journey, and he was left with a visible deformity on the rear side of his shoulder and neck area. His pain was exacerbated by the lack of support from a sling; because of his age, he was too young to wear one. The infant relentlessly cried from the pain and had trouble sleeping, waking up crying inconsolably, even though he had been a good sleeper prior to the daycare incident.

The boy’s mother also experienced challenges caring for her son. She had trouble lifting him up without the full movement of his arm. Her sleep patterns were also disrupted while caring for her son when he cried out in pain at night.

Our experienced daycare injury lawyers fought to get justice for the infant and his mother. We made the daycare center in Kerrville answer for its safety failures that caused the little boy’s injuries and the irresponsible way that the facility and its caregivers responded once the child was hurt. We secured a settlement to help cover the boy’s costly medical bills and compensate the family for the boy’s prolonged suffering. Thankfully, the boy was able to heal and move forward.

Was Your Child Seriously Injured at a Daycare Center? Contact The Button Law Firm.

If your child was physically or emotionally harmed because a daycare center did not comply with Texas childcare safety laws, contact our experienced daycare and child injury lawyers at The Button Law Firm. With lawyers in Houston, Dallas, and Midland, we are ready to listen, fight for your family, and help your family move forward. Our lawyers at The Button Law Firm are recognized on the prestigious Texas Super Lawyers list, and we can help guide you after a traumatizing incident involving your child. We work on contingency, meaning we don’t charge you or collect any upfront fees to get started on your case. Call us at 214-699-4409, email us at [email protected], or fill out a contact form for a free case evaluation.