EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — Fresh life has been giving to a lawsuit claiming that the state child protection agency bears liability in the death of a south-central Kansas toddler.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas Court of Appeals has reversed a lower-court judge’s decision to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit. It was filed by Jayla Haag’s father against the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

The father contends that the child protection agency knew of risks to the 18-month-old girl and could have prevented her 2012 death at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend Justin Edwards.

The girls’ injuries included a broken jaw, and she had lived in what’s been described as a meth house.

Assistant Attorney General Steve Fabert argued previously that DCF, as a governmental agency, has immunity in such a lawsuit.