Updated

Updated · CBS New York · Jul 8

Los Angeles Family Sues Bay Club Over 23-Month-Old's Brain Injury After 6-Foot Fall

Updated

Updated · CBS New York · Jul 8

Los Angeles Family Sues Bay Club Over 23-Month-Old's Brain Injury After 6-Foot Fall

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 · CBS New York · Jul 8

A Los Angeles family sued The Bay Club El Segundo, alleging a March 17, 2025 daycare incident left their 23-month-old son with a traumatic brain injury and hearing loss.
The complaint says an employee swung the toddler, lifted him about 6 feet into the air, released him, failed to catch him, and then fell on top of him after he hit the hardwood floor.
Attorneys also allege club staff minimized the incident in calls to the boy's father and falsely told his mother the child had fallen from only about 1.5 feet, despite security footage they say shows otherwise.
The suit adds claims of negligence, battery, fraud and emotional distress, and argues the childcare center lacked a required California daycare license because the parents were not on the same premises.
California's social services department told CBS LA it found no license, pending application or unlicensed-facility record for the site; Bay Club said it could not comment on ongoing litigation.