VENTURA : Day-Care Center Sued Over Injury

A 5-year-old boy and his father have sued a Ventura day-care center, claiming that the boy suffered a serious kidney injury when another boy jumped on his back.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Ventura County Superior Court, alleges that William D. Arthur II was injured Jan. 2 at the Kinder-Care Learning Center, 1110 S. Petit Ave.

The suit accuses Kinder-Care employees of negligent supervision of the center that resulted in another 5-year-old boy jumping on William while he was resting. The attack occurred although center employees “knew that the offending minor . . . jumped onto the backs of other children while at the day-care center,” the suit says.

The suit seeks unspecified damages in excess of $25,000. Alan R. Templeman, the attorney who filed the action, said William is still under treatment for a kidney injury and may have suffered permanent damage.

Michelle Rossi, a Kinder-Care spokeswoman, said she could not comment extensively on the matter but acknowledged that there was an accident at the school Jan. 2.

However, she said William’s mother was acting director of the center that day. She also said William’s parents thought enough of the center to send their child back after he was injured.

The mother could not be reached for comment, but Templeman said she was a program director overseeing several schools and was not directly in charge of the Petit Avenue facility.

Templeman said the boy who caused the injury was not named in the suit because “I don’t make a practice of suing small children.”

No hearing has been scheduled on the suit, which has been assigned to Judge Barbara A. Lane.