$675,000 Settlement – Child sexual assaulted by older child in day care

The safety of our children while in school or day care is the most important thing to parents.  We expect that our children will receive appropriate supervision to keep them safe. Don’t all children have a right to be kept free from sexual and physical abuse?  When schools fail, children are harmed.  The harm to a young child who is abused or assaulted at a young age is life-long.  The damage to children will affect them in every aspect of their lives for as long as they live.

Our client’s young child was sexually assaulted by an older child while at day care.  The two children were allowed to be in an area where there was no supervision by the day care staff, in violation of the facility’s own standards and reasonable care for the industry.  During that period, the older, larger child sexually assaulted the younger one.  The older child had also displayed aggressive propensities at the day care in the past.  The school not only did not separate the children by age and size, they left the predatory older child unsupervised with the smaller one. A confidential settlement on behalf of the child was obtained by John Elliott Leighton of $675,000. This money was placed in a trust for the benefit of this child, and it will provide him with the financial security for therapy and support, as well as funds for education.

Child sex abuse is a huge national problem.  Although not reported as often, child-on-child sex abuse affects many children and often goes unreported.  Leighton Panoff Law is committed to stopping such abuse whether by students, teachers or staff.