Daycare asks judge to dismiss claims in lawsuit after toddler was ‘thrown in air and dropped’

A California childcare center has asked a judge to dismiss some claims in a lawsuit filed by a couple who allege that an employee threw their then-23-month-old child in the air and failed to catch him, resulting in a traumatic brain injury.

Matthew Kittle and Elena Kittle filed a lawsuit against Bay Club South Bay LLC after the incident involving their son, referred to as C.K. in court documents, in 2025. The Kittles also claim the Bay Club tried to cover up the nature of the boy's injuries.

Attorneys for Bay Club, located in El Segundo, filed court papers on Monday asking Judge Tamara Hall to dismiss the Kittles' claims of battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud. A hearing in the case is set for Oct. 15.

"This is a negligence case at most," the club's lawyers wrote in their pleadings. "Unfortunately, C.K.'s parents and counsel are desperately attempting, through crafty pleadings and misrepresentation of facts, to turn a mere accident into an intentional tort."

Battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud are all intentional torts.

When the video is viewed frame from the 25 to 26 second mark, one can see the staff member still has her hands on C.K. as he goes behind her back, still appears to have her hands on him as C.K. lands on his feet, and then falls to his side about 9:20 a.m. March 17, 2025, according to the club's attorneys' pleadings.

The childcare center provided the video to the Kittles four days later, undercutting any argument of a concealment, the club's attorneys further state in their court papers.

"It is clear from the face of the complaint that the Kittles have not alleged, and cannot allege, facts sufficient to establish any of the elements of a cause of action for fraud," the club lawyers wrote. "They strike out on all elements."

The club attorneys further stated in their court papers that although C.K. was injured, that fact alone does not support an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim, and the battery claim should be dismissed because the boy was not touched with an intent that he be harmed.

"It is clear from the video that the TBCC employee was simply playing with (C.K.),” they wrote.

The childcare center's lawyers also are asking that some passages of the Kittle suit be stricken, including one that partially reads, "The Bay Club lied to C.K.'s parents about the severity of his injury and how the incident occurred."

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