YORK COUNTY, S.C. — A company that runs several day care facilities in the area must pay $16 million to a York County family after their baby died in 2021 at Carolina Kids Development Center.
Six-month-old Jonathan Cash Berry was found unresponsive at the Rock Hill facility on Ebenezer Road.
Attorney David Martin said one of the workers failed to follow safe practices when laying the baby down to sleep.
“Unfortunately, the child was laid on his side rolled over, and suffocated while in that day care,” said Martin, with the David Martin Law Group.
Parents Robert and Sasha filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Carolina Kids and its owner Cadence Education LLC.
“Their biggest goal in all of this is to make sure this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” Martin said.
The defendants agreed last week to pay the family $16 million in the settlement.
Martin believes the large amount of money will bring about change.
“Checking on the child more often,” Martin said. “How they check on the child. Things like that. Those are things that are going to be implemented in the future.”
An attorney on the family’s team said he believes this was one of the largest settlements for any wrongful death case in York County’s history.
Below is a full statement from Cadence Education LLC:
“The health, safety and wellbeing of all of the children in our care is our highest priority. In June 2021, an infant at our school had an isolated, emergency health situation. Our teachers and staff reacted immediately, performing CPR and calling emergency services. Unfortunately, later in the week we learned that the infant passed away. The cause of death was undetermined.
The school self-reported the incident to the South Carolina Division of Social Services (DSS) and supported them during their investigation. We also informed the families of the school, and provided assistance and resources to our staff. Recently, the lawsuit was settled.
Our hearts remain with the parents and loved ones of the infant, and everyone who was impacted by this tragedy.”
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