Bay Club sued after daycare worker drops toddler, causing brain injury

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A Southern California family is taking The Bay Club to court over an incident in which an employee at the fitness chain's El Segundo childcare center tossed their 23-month-old son overhead and did not catch him, causing the child to sustain a traumatic brain injury, NBC News reported.

The complaint, filed July 2 by Matthew and Elena Kittle on behalf of their son, who is referred to throughout the filing by the initials C.K., names The Bay Clubs Co. LLC and Bay Club South Bay LLC as defendants. The incident occurred March 17, 2025, at the El Segundo Clubhouse, a childcare center at The Bay Club's El Segundo location, according to NBC News.

Video submitted as part of the lawsuit captures a female staff member gripping the boy's hands and pendulum-swinging him between her legs, then hoisting him over her head and releasing her grip. At the apex of the toss, the child was approximately 6 feet off the ground, according to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained and reviewed the footage; he then dropped to the floor behind the employee, who toppled backward onto him.

Matthew Kittle arrived to collect his son and discovered visible injuries across the boy's face, including severe bruising, a swollen mouth, and a right eye that was completely shut, according to NBC News. After being brought to an emergency room, C.K. received diagnoses of blunt head trauma, facial abrasion, and a concussion, the suit states. When a neurology specialist evaluated C.K. the following month, the doctor found that concussion symptoms had persisted, among them a loss of hearing, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Central to the lawsuit's fraud allegations is the claim that Bay Club personnel, including both a staff member and the facility's general manager, described the episode to the family as the worker stumbling while crouching, with C.K. never more than a foot and a half off the ground. Doctors at the emergency room reportedly cast doubt on that version of events, with the lawsuit noting that the boy's wounds did not match what would be expected from such a minor drop, according to NBC News.

The filing additionally contends that the childcare center had never obtained a license from the California Department of Social Services, which state law requires for facilities of its kind. In statements to both outlets, The Bay Club declined to discuss the case while it is in litigation, adding that protecting members, employees, and families ranks as its foremost concern.

Toddler thrown 6 feet in air at Bay Club daycare suffers brain injury, lawsuit says

Suit claims club gave parents a false account of how the child was hurt and that its childcare operation was unlicensed under California law

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