Updated

Updated · NBC News · Jul 9

Kittle Family Sues Bay Club Over 6-Foot Toss That Left 23-Month-Old With Brain Injury

Updated

Updated · NBC News · Jul 9

Kittle Family Sues Bay Club Over 6-Foot Toss That Left 23-Month-Old With Brain Injury

Q: A toddler was severely injured at a luxury club's daycare. Why was it operating without a state license?

It appears The Bay Club El Segundo was operating without a state daycare license because it was relying on a California exemption commonly used by gyms and clubs, which can allow short-term child watch services without a license if parents remain on the premises. The lawsuit argues that exemption did not apply here. According to the family’s attorneys, C.K.’s father dropped him off and then went to another Bay Club property, Manhattan Country Club, about a mile away. If parents were allowed to leave the site while children stayed in care, the club may have fallen outside the exemption and should have been licensed by the California Department of Social Services. That allegation is central to the case because state regulators said they could not find a license, a pending application, or even a record of an unlicensed facility for The Bay Club’s childcare operation. The family says that shows the club was not properly authorized to run the daycare as it was being used. The Bay Club has not addressed the licensing allegation publicly, saying only that it cannot comment on ongoing litigation and that safety is its top priority. So, based on the available facts, the reason it was operating without a license appears to be that it treated the daycare as an exempt gym childcare service, while the family contends its actual practices required full state licensing.

3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Jul 9

July 2’s lawsuit says a Bay Club El Segundo childcare worker threw 23-month-old C.K. about 6 feet into the air on March 17, 2025, failed to catch him, and caused a traumatic brain injury.
Security video included in the complaint allegedly shows the boy falling onto a hardwood floor and the employee landing on top of him, while the club later told his parents he had fallen from only 1.5 feet.
By 10:10 a.m., C.K.’s father found him badly bruised with a swollen-shut eye; an hour later, a Torrance emergency room diagnosed concussion, blunt head trauma and facial abrasion after staff questioned the club’s account.
The complaint says C.K. still has concussion-related symptoms, including hearing loss, and accuses The Bay Club of negligence, negligent hiring, battery, emotional distress and intentional concealment.
It also alleges the 14,000-square-foot childcare center was operating without a required California license because parents could leave children there while going to another Bay Club site a mile away.