U.S. to pay parents $900K after illegal daycare stayed open despite two Army orders to close

According to Court TV, the U.S. government has agreed to pay $900,000 to the parents of 7-month-old Abigail Lobisch, who died while staying at an unauthorized daycare in military housing in Hawaii. The settlement comes after years of litigation focused on repeated warnings about the daycare and two Army orders that failed to stop it from operating.

Abigail died in February 2019 while Dixie Denise Villa cared for her overnight at Aliamanu Military Reservation in Honolulu. Villa’s manslaughter conviction later brought a 20-year prison sentence after jurors found her responsible for Abigail’s death from a fatal amount of diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl.

Abigail’s parents argued in their civil lawsuit that military officials had plenty of warning before their daughter ever entered Villa’s home. Neighbors had reported the unauthorized daycare throughout 2017 and 2018, provided photos and videos and involved military police. The Army also sent Villa two cease and desist notices in 2018, yet she continued caring for children.

Two cease and desist orders should have triggered more

The Army knew about Villa’s daycare well before Abigail died, much like another case where a school official ignored repeated warnings. Court records say one neighbor contacted the Family Child Care Office more than 10 times in January and February 2018 alone, then gave military police photos, videos and a sworn statement about what she had seen at the home.

Those reports required action. Army rules gave the Family Child Care Office three working days to investigate unauthorized childcare, and officials who confirmed it had to tell the provider to stop.

Villa eventually received two cease and desist orders. At that point, the Army was not simply responding to a neighbor’s suspicions. Officials had investigated enough to formally tell her the daycare could not keep operating, yet children continued going to the home.

The government later put that issue at the center of its attempt to dismiss the Lobisch family’s lawsuit. A federal judge found that some of the Army’s childcare rules were mandatory, not suggestions officials could choose whether to follow. That finding allowed the family to keep pursuing its claims against the government.

The judge did not rule that the Army caused Abigail’s death. The decision instead gave her parents something much more solid than an argument that officials should have done more. They had repeated complaints, two orders telling Villa to stop and Army rules that required further action if unauthorized childcare continued.

The $900,000 still is not an admission of fault

The $900,000 payment closes the Lobisch family’s fight with the federal government, but the Army is not accepting blame. The settlement specifically says the money should not count as an admission of liability or fault by the United States or its employees, much like another wrongful death settlement without admission.

So Abigail’s parents will receive the settlement without a trial deciding whether the Army was legally responsible for her death. The government gets to resolve the lawsuit while continuing to deny that it was at fault.

Another part of the case remains unresolved. Abigail’s parents also sued Island Palm Communities, which managed the military housing where Villa lived, and court records show the two sides have been working toward a separate settlement.

Villa is already serving 20 years in prison for Abigail’s death. The lawsuit focused on what happened before Abigail died, including the complaints military officials received, the orders telling Villa to stop and the Army rules requiring further action when unauthorized childcare continued.

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