A Clayton County jury has awarded a family $2 million after their 13-month-old son suffered a fractured femur while in the care of Raven's Learning Haven Daycare Center in Atlanta back in January 2023. The boy sustained a nondisplaced spiral fracture of his femur, an injury that upended daily life for a family that had trusted the center with their infant son's safety.
The verdict, delivered by a Clayton County jury, closes out a case that began when the boy's mother filed a lawsuit alleging negligence at the daycare, according to WSB-TV. Morgan and Morgan attorneys took on the case and represented the family throughout the litigation, the station reports.
Attorneys John Morgan and Shellea Huff said in a statement that the injury drastically disrupted the little boy's life and development, and that his mother fought for him. “No child should have to endure a preventable injury like this while in the care of a facility entrusted with their safety,” Morgan and Huff said in the same statement, per the station's report.
Attorneys Say Verdict Sends a Message
Morgan and Huff also said the jury's verdict holds the daycare accountable and that they hope it sends childcare providers a message that child safety is not optional, according to the same account. The statement frames the $2 million figure not just as compensation for one family but as a broader signal to facilities that care for infants and toddlers across the region.
How Georgia Daycares Are Required to Report Injuries
Georgia's child-care rules require facility directors to act quickly when a child is seriously hurt. Per the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, a center director or designated person-in-charge must report, or cause to be reported, to the department within 24 hours or the next work day a serious illness or injury requiring hospitalization or professional medical attention other than first aid.
Daycare injury cases elsewhere have produced starkly different outcomes and dollar figures. In Polk County, Arkansas, a jury awarded $110 million, plus $40,000 in punitive damages, to the family of a 7-month-old infant who suffered blindness and significant brain damage requiring lifelong care after being injured at an unlicensed daycare in Mena, according to a report from Expert Institute. In Texas, meanwhile, the law firm Hoover Rogers Law says it secured a $624,000 pre-suit settlement, structured so an annuity will pay the child more than $1.4 million over time, after a bookcase tipped over and crushed several fingers on a toddler's hand, leading to fractures, partial amputations, and multiple surgeries from pediatric hand specialists, per the firm's own account on its website.
What they share with the Atlanta case is a recurring theme in child-care litigation: families turning to the courts after their youngest children were hurt in facilities meant to keep them safe.
