New Jersey Fines Atilis Gym $130,000+ for Violating Coronavirus Shutdown Orders

The state of New Jersey has fined Atilis Gym in Bellmawr more than $130,000 in total fines for violating the state’s coronavirus closure orders.

Currently, the state still bans indoor gym operations, only allowing fitness centers to offer outdoor workouts or individual instruction to clients. The fine marks the latest legal news development in what has been a dramatic back-and-forth between state officials and the gym owners, which culminated in the gym losing its business license.

However, Atilis Gym has reportedly disagreed with this ruling and has expressed this disagreement by violating the order and staying open.

Philly Voice reports that since early July, the gym has been offering indoor workouts. In addition to breaking the rules, gym owners went so far as to break down the physical barrier that the state had put up around the gym’s entrance.

Now Atilis is on the hook for the cost of a replacement barrier, as well.

Per the state’s judgment, the company will have to pay a range of continually mounting fees. Atilis will be fined $124,000 for allegedly violating the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, $10,000 to cover legal fees incurred by the state and $15,500 for each day that the gym remains open in violation of the orders.

Additionally, the cost of a new barrier will be tacked onto the bill, and a new one will be installed “as expeditiously as possible,” Philly Voice reports.

The owners of the gym, Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti, have argued against the judgment. They say they were not given due process in the decision making, asserting that they were not allowed to speak at the court hearings over the issue.

Philly Voice recounts the nature of Atilis’ struggles to defy New Jersey law, noting that after gyms initially were required to close because of the threat of the coronavirus, Atilis Gym opened its doors May 18.

This supposedly unlawful opening was short-lived, lasting only for three days. After three days, state health officials shut down the gym.

Then, a judge determined the gym was allowed to remain open if it complied with state regulations around COVID-19, regulations including the use of personal protective equipment, social distancing and limited occupancy.

However, upon investigation by Camden County health inspectors, it was reportedly discovered that the gym had not heeded these instructions.

To hide the fact that the gym was violating state rules, the gym’s windows had supposedly been covered so that no one could see inside, Philly Voice says.

In light of these violations, Atilis was forced to close.

However, even that did not stop the gym from operating, the news source says.

Reportedly, multiple people used the facility even though it should have been closed. At that point, the health department had been permitted to lock the doors of the gym to finally close it.

However, in advance of that, the owners had reportedly made it impossible by taking the doors off their hinges.

After being charged with contempt, obstruction and violation of a disaster control act, and being arrested for not leaving the gym as instructed, the gym owners still saw fit to open the gym yet again in August.

They managed this by physically breaking the barrier the state had placed over the entrance. This move earned them in a disorderly conduct summons from the Camden prosecutor’s office.

Finally, the gym lost its business license, per a vote by the Bellmawr Borough Council.

The gym owners have repeatedly argued that state officials failed to provide a “scientific basis” to force the gym to close.

However, the court was not moved by the gym owners’ choice to protest the state’s orders by violating it rather than going through the courts, saying, “Defendant has failed, until most recently, to avail itself of the processes available to it as of right.”

Have businesses in your state been heeding COVID-19 regulations? Share your experiences in the comments below.

The state of New Jersey is represented by Stephen Slocum of the attorney general’s office.

The Atilis Gym New Jersey COVID-19 Regulations Violation Lawsuit is Judith M. Persichilli RN, BSN, MA, in her official capacity as the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health v. Atilis Gym Bellmawr, Docket No. C-48-20, in the U.S. Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, General Equity Part Mercer County.

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