The fitness club is being sued after an employee at one of its Southern California child care facilities threw a 23-month-old child into the air and failed to catch him, resulting in a traumatic brain injury, the complaint states.
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Matthew and Elena Kittle filed the lawsuit July 2 against The Bay Club, an upscale club with several locations, including in El Segundo, south of Los Angeles.
They allege that while their son, identified by the initials CK, was at The Bay Club El Segundo daycare on March 17, 2025, a staff member threw him into the air — 6 feet above the ground — but was unable to catch him, the lawsuit says. CK fell to the ground and hit his head on the hardwood floor, and the employee fell backward and landed on top of him, the lawsuit says.
It said The Bay Club downplayed the severity of the fall to the boy’s parents. CK suffered a concussion and is still experiencing side effects from falling, says the suit.
The complaint filed against Bay Clubs Co. LLC and Bay Club South Bay LLC, alleging negligence; negligence as such; lax hiring, retention and supervision; causing mental suffering through negligence; fraud – intentional concealment; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and battery.
Screenshot of video of an incident at The Bay Club El Segundo in El Segundo, California in March 2025.via Lowe Rosen Saba
The Bay Club said it could not comment on ongoing litigation.
“At Bay Club, the safety of our members, team members and the families we serve is our highest priority,” the statement said.
Bay Club LLC owns and operates private fitness clubs and country clubs on the West Coast, including Oregon, Washington and California.
El Segundo is home to the El Segundo Clubhouse, which is described on the club’s website as a 14,000-square-foot child care center where children participate in supervised activities.
On the day of the incident, C.K.’s father dropped him off at the El Segundo club. He told employees he would be at the Bay Club Manhattan, a country club a mile away, within the next three hours, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit says C.K. was shot at 9:20 a.m.
Surveillance video included in the lawsuit shows the employee holding the child by the arms and cradling him between her legs. She then throws the boy over her head, letting go of his arms, and is unable to catch him. The child falls to the floor behind her and the employee falls backward and appears to land on top of him, the video shows. The employee then appears to be holding the child while the child is lying on the floor.
Other employees react to the fall with shock and concern, as seen in the video.
After this, the club called CK’s parents separately. Matthew Kittle answered the phone at 9:30 a.m. and was told that CK had “fallen” and had since “calmed down,” the lawsuit says. He called back and said that he would pick up his son at the end of the session.
At 9:45 a.m., the club called him again, offered to pick up CK and said “they were unable to work out CK,” the document states.
When Matthew Kittle picked up CK at 10:10 a.m., he found his son’s face was “severely bruised,” his right eye was swollen shut and his mouth was swollen, the lawsuit says. Once he was home, C.K. became “extremely sleepy, lethargic and irritable,” and his parents became concerned, the lawsuit says.
According to documents, Elena Kittle spoke with an employee who identified herself as the aquatics director at 10:44 a.m.
The aquatics director stated that CK was “being held by an employee who fell while she was squatting” and that “CK was only approximately a foot and a half off the ground” when the fall occurred, the suit states. She also said that C.K. wanted to “go to sleep immediately after the fall” and that staff “had a hard time keeping him from sleeping,” the lawsuit says.
An hour later, C.K. was taken to the emergency room at Torrance Medical Center. There, medical staff also questioned the accuracy of The Bay Club’s account of the incident “because the injuries were not consistent with a 1.5-foot fall,” the lawsuit says.
The complaint states that K.K. underwent a CT scan and neurological examination and was diagnosed with a concussion, blunt head trauma and a facial abrasion.
That same day at 2:22 p.m., Elena Kittle spoke with the general manager of The Bay Club, who said she had reviewed video of the incident and also stated that CK fell 1.5 feet, according to the documents.
The parents requested the video, which they received on March 21, 2025, which left them “shocked” by the “seriousness of the fall” and “the fact that the Bay Club attempted to hide the true nature of the incident,” the lawsuit states. The complaint says the video showed the child was at least 6 feet in the air, not 1.5 feet as the club said.
Several weeks after the incident, CK began to experience symptoms including sensitivity to light and sound, irritability, irregular sleep, lethargy and problems with attachment, the lawsuit says. A neurologist who examined him in April 2025 said CK was still experiencing symptoms of a concussion, the document said.
“CK was determined to have “a definite concussion of sufficient severity and clinical signs consistent with pain and changes in behavior,” the complaint states. The statement said CK continues to experience symptoms, including hearing loss.
The lawsuit also alleges that the daycare center operated illegally.
Under California law, child care centers require a license from the state Department of Human Services. Some child care programs may be exempt from licensing if parents and caregivers are on the same premises and if they do not operate in certain locations, including shopping malls or ski resorts.
The lawsuit argues that The Bay Club does not qualify for this exception because parents are not necessarily on the premises at all times. The lawsuit says the children could be left at the Bay Club El Segundo building while the parents went to The Bay Club in Manhattan, a country club a mile away.
The club’s website states that a parent or guardian must be present at the time of booking.
The parents, represented by the Rosen Saba Law Firm, are seeking a jury trial, exemplary and punitive damages, and civil and statutory penalties.