Kiddie Academy Lawsuits: $500M Kent Island, Fishers, and Spring

Kiddie Academy, the Maryland-based childcare franchise, has been sued over alleged abuse and neglect at franchised locations in Maryland, Indiana, and Texas, with the largest active case a $500 million civil action filed in December 2025 over the Kent Island, Maryland academy. A separate 2021 federal ruling in Texas found that Kiddie Academy’s franchise agreement gave the corporate parent enough contractual control over its locations to be sued for a franchisee’s negligence, a holding that shapes how these cases are pleaded today.

The $500 Million Kent Island Case

Two families — the Larsens of Anne Arundel County and the Peters of Queen Anne’s County — filed Nicholas Peter, et al. v. Kiddie Academy of Kent Island, et al. (Case No. C-24-CV-25-010255) in Baltimore City Circuit Court in December 2025.¹ The suit names the franchise, the operating entity D. Barnhart LLC, owners Dana and Scott Barnhart, corporate franchisor Kiddie Academy Domestic Franchising LLC, its parent Essential Brands Inc., and former caregiver Wendy Jones.²

The claims include fraud and fraudulent concealment, constructive fraud, battery, negligent hiring and supervision, negligent retention, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and gross negligence. The complaint alleges the Barnharts kept Jones on staff despite prior warnings in 2021 and 2023, and that after a 2023 incident Dana Barnhart labeled a child’s injuries under Jones’s care as “accidental.” The families also allege management failed to conduct an adequate background check.²¹

Jones, 58, was captured on surveillance footage physically abusing toddlers under age two. She pleaded guilty on August 7, 2025 to three counts of misdemeanor second-degree assault and was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised probation.³⁴ Dana Barnhart was charged in April 2025 with failure to report child abuse or neglect; her criminal case was placed on the stet docket, which indefinitely postpones prosecution on the condition she hold no direct childcare or supervisory role and the facility submit to monthly compliance visits by the Maryland Office of Child Care.⁵¹

The Whistleblower Claims

The complaint alleges the facility’s assistant director first reported the abuse internally in mid-December 2024 with video documentation. When ownership took no action, she contacted the Queen Anne’s County Sheriff’s Office in February 2025 and turned over the surveillance footage. She was fired immediately after management learned she had gone to law enforcement, according to the suit.² Her separate wrongful termination lawsuit against Barnhart has since settled.¹

Where the Case Stands

The Maryland State Department of Education ordered the Kent Island facility to disenroll all children under two in February 2025. The academy remains open under monthly monitoring, with complaint inspections in February, April, and June 2026. The lawsuit alleges that despite the stet docket conditions, the corporate entities have allowed Dana Barnhart to keep owning and operating the franchise. As of early 2026, defense attorneys had not yet entered appearances on the Maryland Judiciary Case Search, and no motions or rulings in the civil case had been reported.¹²

The Fishers, Indiana Abuse Suit

Four families sued Kiddie Academy of Fishers in Hamilton County Court, Indiana, in August 2024. The complaint alleges caregiver Molly Taxter repeatedly threw, kicked, and dragged toddlers between 14 and 19 months old and forced them into improper timeouts, and that a second employee, Megan Weber, witnessed the abuse without reporting it. The suit also accuses Kiddie Academy of failing to monitor existing surveillance footage, properly vet and supervise employees, and enforce safety measures. The children’s injuries reportedly ranged from bruises to traumatic brain injury, with reported emotional impacts including separation anxiety and developmental delays. As of January 2025, the case was proceeding in court.⁶

The Spring, Texas Neglect Suit

Mark and Vivian Francis sued Kiddie Academy of Harmony in Spring, Texas after their two-year-old daughter was allegedly left unattended in a bathroom for nearly four hours. According to counsel for the family, the facility had no recorded activity for the child between her 7 a.m. drop-off and lunch at 11:40 a.m. The suit alleges interior surveillance footage from the relevant days was deleted and that a former employee testified in a deposition that staff were pressured not to discuss the incident. The Texas Health and Human Services Child Care Regulation Office documented multiple violations of minimum standards at the facility.⁶

On May 22, 2025, the Texas Ninth Court of Appeals conditionally granted a writ of mandamus in In Re Ganesh Vidyala, LLC d/b/a Kiddie Academy of Harmony, ordering the trial court to allow an independent medical examination of the child. The appellate court found the child’s mental condition was “in controversy” and that the examination was necessary to ensure a fair trial.⁷

Can the Corporate Franchisor Be Held Liable?

Every Kiddie Academy location is franchised rather than corporate-owned, which makes franchisor liability a recurring issue in these suits. The key ruling is McNeel v. Kiddie Academy Domestic Franchising, LLC, a wrongful death case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Three-month-old Skylar Mae McNeel was found unresponsive in a crib at Kiddie Academy of League City on August 27, 2018, and her parents alleged the franchisee failed to follow safe-sleep practices and that the corporate franchisor was also responsible.

On March 10, 2021, Judge Jeffrey V. Brown denied Kiddie Academy’s motion for summary judgment. He found that the franchise agreement gave the franchisor the right to enter any location and exercise “complete authority with respect to the operation and administration” of the business in the event of a default. Retaining that contractual right to control day-to-day operations was enough, the court held, to expose the franchisor to vicarious liability for the franchisee’s negligence, regardless of whether the company was actively exercising that control at the time of the death.⁸ The case was terminated on October 1, 2021. Federal court records do not specify whether it ended in settlement or verdict, though a jury trial had been scheduled for August 2021.⁹

That ruling matters for the Kent Island lawsuit and cases like it. Plaintiffs now have a reasoned federal opinion holding that Kiddie Academy’s franchise agreements may create enough corporate control to keep the parent company in the case rather than isolating liability at the franchisee. Kiddie Academy operates roughly 345 franchised locations across 39 states and Washington, D.C., all under a model requiring on-site supervision by a certified full-time director.¹⁰

1
The Daily Record. Kent Island Daycare Child Abuse Lawsuit
2
Law Firm Newswire. The Snyder Law Group LLC Files $500 Million Lawsuit Against Kiddie Academy
3
CBS News Baltimore. Former Caregiver Sentenced for Assaults at Maryland Daycare
4
WMAR-2 News. Easton Caregiver Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Assault of Three Toddlers
5
The Star Democrat. Owner, Employee of Stevensville Day Care Arrested on Child Abuse Charges
6
Fox 26 Houston. Family Sues Spring Daycare After Allegations of Child Neglect
7
Justia. In Re Ganesh Vidyala LLC d/b/a Kiddie Academy of Harmony
8
Justia. McNeel et al v. Kiddie Academy Domestic Franchising LLC
9
CourtListener. McNeel v. Kiddie Academy Domestic Franchising LLC Docket
10
Swoop Funding. Kiddie Academy Franchise