Director’s Guard Pistol-Whipped Them, 2 Say

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Two men claim movie director Michael Bay's security guard hit them in the head with a gun, knocking them out, and continued to beat them as they lay unconscious. They sued Bay and Kiss Nightclub, where the trouble allegedly began.

Joshua Stewart and Paul Klimczak seek punitive damages for assault and negligence. The Jet Group dba Beso Hollywood, Kiss Nightclub and Michael Bay, in Superior Court. Bay has directed action movies, including "Transformers," "Pearl Harbor," and "Armageddon."

Stewart and Klimczak say they went to Beso and Kiss nightclub in Hollywood on Aug. 24, 2008. There, they say, "a loud and threatening altercation occurred" between Stewart and Bay's security guard, who was drunk and carrying a handgun.

The men say the nightclub knew the guard was drunk, but kept serving him alcohol.

They say the club made all three men - Stewart, Klimczak and the guard - leave "at the same time and through the same exit, thereby placing them in close proximity to one another immediately outside the nightclub."

Outside the club, they say, Bay's guard "approached them from behind and struck first Klimczak and then Stewart in the head with the handgun in his possession rendering both plaintiffs unconscious."

They say the guard "then proceeded to deliver additional blows to the then unconscious plaintiffs, and then fled the scene."

Stewart and Klimczak say they suffered "concussions, broken teeth, broken bones, facial contusions and various other physical injuries," for which they were treated at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

They seek medical expenses, lost income and punitive damages. They are represented by Steven Renshaw.

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