AUSTIN, Texas — A day care center is back in the spotlight with a second lawsuit filed against The Children's Courtyard in southwest Austin.
The Milivojevic family claims that though a live feed video, their nearly 2-year-old daughter was "aggressively handled and inappropriately disciplined" in May 2023. The lawsuit mentions it was her second day at the day care.
The family immediately pulled their daughter out and reported the incident to the day care's director, according to the lawsuit. But when nothing was done to remedy the situation, the family reported it to the state.
According to attorney Russell Button, who represents the Milivojevic family, it was a lawsuit reported by KVUE back in July that triggered the new lawsuit to be filed.
However, the new lawsuit also opened up new revelations.
Button said while sifting through the video provided by the Milivojevic family, they uncovered a separate incident that tied to the family involved in the first lawsuit.
"We realized that [the] Dominguez family's son is also being physically abused in the same exact manner by the same exact caregiver two months prior," Button said.
The caregiver involved in the Dominguez family's case was also allegedly captured on live feed mistreating the 2-year-old boy. Attorneys for The Children's Courtyard filed a response to the lawsuit that denied any wrongdoing.
However, back in July, staff at the day care told KVUE the employee in question was no longer employed with them.
In the May 2023, incident, Button said the live feed shows the son of the Dominguez family - in the same classroom as the daughter of the Milivojevic family - yanking the child and throwing him down onto his nap mat.
"It was just alarming," Button said.
Button said the new incident led the Dominguez family to amend their complaint and update the original lawsuit. According to Button, the goal for all families is to hold the day care accountable for all actions.
"As we get further involved in the lawsuit ... This had a culture, and this had a systematic system in place that was just setting up for these children to be abused and for these caregivers to go unsupervised," Button said.
KVUE reached out to The Children's Courtyard multiple times on Tuesday about the second lawsuit, but did not receive a response.
Meanwhile, KVUE also reached out to Texas Human Health and Human Services (HHS), which regulates childcare providers in the state. A spokesperson said they were working on our request.