STARKE, Fla. -- The Department of Children and Families will find itself in court again this week, defending itself in another wrongful-death lawsuit.

The father of 3-year-old Ciara Floyd is suing Florida's child-protection agency, claiming they could have prevented the girl's death in 1996.

Floyd's father filed the lawsuit in 1997 after he said several other reports of abuse against the girl were ignored by the department.

"There certainly were bruises on this child's chest -- I think there were a total of seven small, round bruises," DCF spokesman Tom Barnes said. "Those had not been identified as being the result of abuse."

Three weeks after investigators found those bruises, Ciara died of injuries suffered from abuse by her mother's boyfriend.

That man, Larry Chris Noegel, a prison guard with a previous arrest record for domestic violence, was under DCF investigation at the time of Ciara's death for abusing another child. But because one of Noegel's cases was listed under his first name and another under his middle name, no connection was made between the two investigations.

Floyd's attorney, Val Bates, said that's no excuse, because the Social Security and driver's license numbers on the two investigations matched.

"They're the kind of last line of defense for these kids, and I think they seriously dropped the ball," Bates told Channel 4's Jennifer Waugh Monday.

Noegel was convicted of second-degree murder for Ciara's death and is currently serving a 30-year sentence.

A jury was empanelled at the Bradford County Courthouse Monday morning. Opening statements and testimony in the lawsuit were expected to begin Tuesday.

Read Floyd Vs. DCF Lawsuit (PDF file)