dme court

A new complaint arguing a child was injured due to negligence will be filed in a suit against a Center Township day care center, its owner and two employees after the original suit was questioned and called vague at a Tuesday hearing in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Kelley Streib said attorney Josh Licata, who filed the suit on behalf of the child and his parents against Sheryl Buffington’s Daycare & Preschool Palace, Buffington and employees Taylor Titley and Megan Anthony, will have 30 days to file an amended complaint.

The civil suit claims the boy was under the supervision of Titley and Anthony on June 13, 2023, when Titley caused him to fall forcefully to the ground resulting in a broken bone in his right forearm. The boy was 7 months old at the time.

Anthony observed Titley’s actions toward the boy and failed to report it, according to the original suit filed in June of this year.

The incident was not reported to the boy’s parents, David DiGiacomo and Karlee Quinn, and the injuries weren’t discovered until DiGiacomo picked up his son from the center later that day, according to the suit.

After the boy was taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, doctors contacted the hospital’s child advocacy center because of the injuries. CYS removed the boy and his brother from their parents’ custody on June 14. The children were returned to their parents June 16 with a safety plan requiring supervised access to both children. The safety plan was dropped after the parents took a polygraph test on June 28, according to the suit.

State police filed criminal charges against Titley, 31, of Lyndora, and Anthony, 26, of Butler.

Judge Joseph Kubit dismissed the charges against Anthony in a July ruling. She had been charged with four counts of person to report suspected child abuse.

Titley is facing 20 felony and misdemeanor charges including aggravated assault of a person less than 6 years old, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault and reckless endangerment. Her case remains active.

The civil suit includes counts of negligence, negligent supervision and loss of services against all four defendants, and corporate negligence against the business and Buffington. Loss of services claims are usually filed due to the death or injury of a spouse to account for the loss of support for a household.

Attorney Joseph Butcher, who represents the business and Buffington, said Buffington should be dismissed as a defendant because she was not directly involved in the alleged incident and is not personally liable.

The business should be dismissed because it shouldn’t be liable for the actions of its employees, Butcher said. He also said the complaint is vague.

Attorney Josh Licata, who represents the boy and his parents, said Buffington is responsible for hiring and supervising employees, and the business is responsible for having policies and procedures that protect children.

Streib said the complaint doesn’t detail each count against each defendant and asked Licata for specific information.

Licata said he will amend the complaint to claim negligence against Titley and Anthony and negligent supervision against Buffington and the business.

In his objection to the loss of service count against Buffington and the business, Butcher argued that the parents didn’t receive services from the child, and Buffington and the business are not responsible for CYS taking custody of their children. CYS’s action were not a “foreseeable harm,” Butcher said.

Licata said the parents lost custody of their sons for two days and were under CYS supervision for two weeks.

Attorney Eric VanKirk, who represents Anthony, said loss of services claims are usually filed in cases involving death or the personal injury of a spouse. He argued that the child did not support his parents and the claim is not an arguable cause of action.

Attorney Jeffrey Hantz, who represents Titley, said the negligence count against her should be dismissed because she was not a supervisor, and the loss of service count against her should be dismissed because that claim can only be made in cases involving death.