Paige Hyland sued Abby Lee Miller for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming that Miller physically and emotionally abused her during the filming of Lifetime’s “Dance Moms.” The complaint described years of insults, threats, and one incident in which Miller allegedly threw a chair in Paige’s direction. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed the emotional distress and defamation claims in November 2014, then threw out the remaining assault claim in July 2015 after reviewing footage from the show.
Paige was thirteen when she filed. She had been a competitive dancer on the show alongside her older sister Brooke, with their mother Kelly also in the cast.
What Paige Said Miller Did to Her
The lawsuit described a pattern rather than a single event. According to the complaint, Miller’s coaching style was built on making young dancers cry and then mocking them for being upset. Paige said Miller insulted her appearance, called her names in front of other students and the cameras, and spread false statements about her family. Her schoolwork suffered, and she was sent to school counselors.
The allegations went further than verbal cruelty. Paige claimed Miller pinched dancers until they bled and that children were made to work sixty-hour weeks during filming, which the lawsuit framed as a violation of child labor protections. Paige also said she feared physical violence because she had seen Miller physically attack others on set.
The Chair-Throwing Incident and the Assault Claim
The centerpiece of the assault claim was an incident in which Miller allegedly threw a chair during a confrontation, causing Paige to flee the room. Assault, as a tort, does not require actual contact. It requires that the plaintiff reasonably believe she is about to be harmed. Paige argued that between the chair, Miller’s other threatening behavior, and what she had witnessed Miller do to others, her fear was reasonable.
The intentional infliction of emotional distress claim rested on a different theory: that years of targeted insults and humiliation, directed at a child by an adult authority figure in a setting the child could not easily leave, crossed the line from harsh coaching into legally actionable conduct. Paige’s panic attacks and anxiety were offered as evidence of the harm. The complaint also included defamation claims tied to Miller’s alleged false statements about the Hyland family.
Why the Production Company Was Also Named
The suit did not target Miller alone. Collins Avenue Entertainment, the production company behind “Dance Moms,” was also a defendant. The Hylands argued that producers actively encouraged conflict between Miller and her students because on-camera blowups drove ratings, and that instead of intervening to protect child performers, the production team rewarded the behavior that was harming them.
Reality show release forms are typically sweeping, designed to insulate producers from suits over almost anything that happens during filming. Legal experts have noted, though, that contract language does not protect a producer where gross negligence is easy to prove. Whether the producers’ conduct crossed that line was part of what the Hyland case put in front of the court.
How the Case Was Dismissed
The lawsuit was not thrown out all at once. It came apart in two stages.
In November 2014, Judge Kwan dismissed the defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims. The court ruled that the girls’ psychological condition could not be conclusively connected to Miller’s treatment, which effectively gutted the emotional distress theory. Only the assault claim survived.
In July 2015, that claim was dismissed as well. The judge reviewed footage from the show and concluded that Paige could not have legitimately feared being injured during the chair-throwing incident. The cameras that were supposed to document Miller’s behavior instead gave the court a basis to decide that a reasonable person in Paige’s position would not have feared imminent harm. Paige received no compensation.
Kelly Hyland’s Separate Lawsuit
Paige’s case is sometimes confused with her mother’s. They were separate. Kelly Hyland filed her own lawsuit in February 2014 against Miller and Collins Avenue Entertainment, with Brooke and Paige also listed as plaintiffs. Kelly sought $5 million across counts that included assault, defamation, and breach of contract.
Kelly’s assault claim came from an on-camera altercation. According to her complaint, she tried to leave a confrontation and Miller blocked her path, lunging and gnashing her teeth as if trying to bite her. Kelly said she slapped Miller in self-defense. Miller called the police, and Kelly was arrested and charged with assault, though the criminal charge was later dismissed.
The contract side of Kelly’s suit had different roots. After the family announced in November 2013 that they were leaving the show, Kelly alleged the producers refused to pay wages she was owed for Season 4 episodes, along with bonuses and a babysitting allowance. As of July 2015, Kelly’s breach of contract claims against Collins Avenue were still moving forward even after Paige’s case had been dismissed.
One point often gets the sequence wrong: the Hylands left “Dance Moms” after the late-2013 altercation, before any lawsuits were filed. They left the show, and then they sued.