A federal judge has ordered the owners of a private preschool to comply with a broad request for discovery about its diaper-changing policies in a lawsuit claiming the school violated the civil rights of a young girl with Down syndrome by expelling her.

U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman of the District of New Jersey issued his order in U.S. v. Nobel Learning Communities on Dec. 19.

Defendant Nobel operates various preschools around the country, including the Chesterbrook Academy in Moorestown, which is the focus of the lawsuit.

The school is accused of violating the rights of the girl, identified by the court only as M.M., when it expelled her after she failed to become toilet trained shortly before she turned 4.

M.M., now 7, enrolled at Chesterbrook in January 2012, and her parents were alerted in December 2014 that she would be moved the next month to an “intermediates” class in which diaper-changing services were no longer provided, according to Hillman.

Chesterbrook told the parents about the deadline and worked to toilet train M.M., but expelled her in April 2015 when that training failed, the decision said.

The civil lawsuit, alleging discrimination in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, was filed in 2017 on behalf of the parents by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey. The lawsuit alleges M.M. was expelled because of her disability, and not because she had failed to become toilet trained.

In the Dec. 19 decision, Hillman sided with the government in a dispute between the parties over a discovery request demanding details of the company's toilet-training policies nationwide, going back five years.

Nobel had contended that there was no memorialized nationwide policy and that the Moorestown school's policy was based solely on a local guideline. Nobel had argued that discovery should only be required for the previous two years and be confined to the Moorestown school's guidelines only.

Hillman's order affirmed an April 2018 ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider.

“Defendant has stated it has a general, national practice concerning toilet training,” Hillman said. “This practice is not reduced to writing, but is only evidenced by actions concerning specific children.

“Discovery related to that practice is immediately relevant and Judge Schneider was correct in ordering it,” Hillman said.

There was no evidence, Hillman said, that Schneider overstepped his authority when he granted the broad discovery request.

The lawsuit seeks a declaration that Nobel violated Title III of the ADA, an injunction barring the company from engaging in further discrimination, compensatory relief for the parents, and a civil penalty. The lawsuit was filed in January 2017.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on Hillman's ruling. The government and the family are being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Anger.

Nobel's attorney, Bonnie Hoffman, of the Philadelphia office of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller, did not return a call seeking comment.