When Deborah Eckland started the firm, she had three small children at home and daycare was a big part of life. This coincided with doing work for an insurer client that insured in-home daycare providers. The first case involved a provider who had a child on the riding lawn mower with her. The child fell off and lost a couple of toes. This led to an administrative License Revocation and a civil lawsuit from the parents. Deborah navigated these matters, the provider was allowed to reopen under a conditional license and the civil suit was settled.
Since then, Deborah and her team, including Greg Young and Chelsea Gauger, have handled cases involving child-on-child biting, corporal punishment, abusive shaking, alleged inappropriate touching, “sleeping on the job,” failure to supervise, and so many more issues. These issues resulted in Temporary Immediate Suspensions, Conditional Licenses, License Revocations, findings of Maltreatment and Neglect, criminal referrals and civil lawsuits.
There are only a couple of attorneys in Minnesota who have the breadth of experience as Deborah and her team. The Administrative Law process that governs all licensing matters is a different creature from the usual civil cases. Having knowledge and experience in both and how they interrelate is a unique expertise that Deborah, Greg and Chelsea have. Add to that Greg Young’s background in criminal defense work and this team can successfully navigate any issue daycare providers face.
We are doing every day what we set out to do—to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients. We work closely with our client to make sure we understand how we can best help them. We are practical lawyers who heavily invest ourselves in the outcome of our clients' cases.