Perfect Multi-Gym Has Dangerous Defect, Class Action Says

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Last week, a class action lawsuit was filed against sporting goods company Implus Footcare LLC, alleging that its pull-up bars contain a defect that can severely injure or even kill users.

The class action lawsuit, filed in California federal court by lead plaintiff Matthew Weininger, alleges that Implus Footcare’s “top leverage doorway bars” are designed in such a way that they present harm to their users. The plaintiff claims that he purchased such a pull-up bar at a Big 5 retail sporting good chain within the past four years.

According to the class action lawsuit, the pull-up bars were sold under the brand “Perfect Multi-Gym” and are designed to be installed over the top of a door frame and use the weight of the person doing pull-ups to keep the bar in place. Weininger argues that use of the exerciser’s weight to create stability is dangerous because most people cannot maintain “a complete vertical presence,” and will swing forward while doing the exercise. This swinging can cause the pull-up bar to come off the doorway and could put a user in danger of falling, he alleges.

“The inherent design of such ‘top leverage doorway bars’ … lies in the fact that such are designed to maintain the pressure necessary to hold the bar against the top of the door when the user is vertical to the door frame,” Weininger alleges in the class action lawsuit. “But very few consumers (if any) can maintain a complete vertical presence during a set of pull ups (or even a single pull up) as the body’s natural inclination when performing a pull up is for the legs to swing forward (with the user’s legs moving a number of positive degrees past vertical) as the user pulls up and for the legs to swing backward (with the user’s legs moving a number of negative degrees past vertical) as the user comes down,” he continues. “This pendulum like effect is largely unavoidable as it is the natural result of gravity on the user’s body and its natural motion.”

Weininger alleges in the class action lawsuit that the pull-up bars are “inherently dangerous,” and “defectively designed.” “This Complaint concerns the tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dangerous Products purchased by consumers in the four (4) year period preceding the filing of this Class Action Complaint and seeks damages and restitution on behalf of such consumers who purchased an inherently defective product the use of which could result in serious injury or even deal,” the class action lawsuit says.

Weininger seeks damages for breach of warranty and claims that Implus Foorcare violated California business code. He also seeks to represent “All individuals who, in the State of California, purchased a Product during the four (4) year period of time preceding the filing of this Class Action Complaint (the ‘Class’).”

Implus Footcare LLC is incorporated in Deleware with its principal place of business in North Carolina. According to the class action lawsuit, it designs and manufactures exercise equipment for sale at third party retailers, such as Big 5 sporting goods.

Weininger is represented by Richard D. Lambert of Kearney Littlefield LLP.

The Perfect Multi-Gym Class Action Lawsuit is Weininger v. Implus Footcare LLC, Case No. 3:15-cv-01375, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.