Judge Preliminarily Approves LA Fitness Class Action Settlement

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.

UPDATE: Details on how to file a claim for the LA Fitness New Jersey Class Action Settlement are up!

LA Fitness International LLC has reached another class action lawsuit settlement over claims it continued to charge customers after they cancelled their gym memberships. Under the deal, reached Wednesday, current and former customers can receive cash credits, refunds and free membership passes if the class action settlement is granted final approval.

On May 29, 2013, U.S. District Judge William A. Walls preliminarily approved a settlement in the class action lawsuit Martina v. LA Fitness International LLC as “fundamentally fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests of [Class Members.”

In her class action lawsuit filed last year, lead plaintiff Sophia Martina accused LA Fitness of violating the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) by improperly collecting membership dues through the automatic renewal provisions of the club’s Membership Agreement. Martina alleges that the company’s Membership Agreement and Fitness Service Agreement violated the state’s Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Notice, and Warranty Act (TCCWNA) by including terms contrary to the CFA and the New Jersey Health Club Services Act (HCSA).

Martina claims in the class action lawsuit that she mailed LA Fitness a written notice when she decided to end her membership at the gym, but it wasn’t postmarked 30 days before her next billing date, so the company charged her credit card one last time for monthly dues. Martina says her membership was then extended an additional month beyond that because she paid her last month’s dues when she signed up with LA Fitness.

In a September ruling, Judge Walls said this extra cost contained in LA Fitness’s cancellation policy could catch many members off guard at the end of the membership. He also questioned the company’s requirement that members must mail a cancellation notice as opposed to allowing them to cancel at the club where they joined or by cancelling online or by phone.

Judge Walls said “in this day and age” this narrow restriction for cancellation “suggests an intent to place barriers in the process.”

This is not the first time LA Fitness has been sued for using unfair and confusing contract language and cancellation policies that force members to pay after they attempt to cancel their memberships.

In May, the fitness club chain reached a class action lawsuit settlement in another case (Vaughn v. LA Fitness International LLC) over claims it breached its Monthly Dues contract and violated the law by making it “virtually impossible” for members to cancel their contracts.

LA Fitness reached a similar class action settlement in 2011 for including improper termination clauses in its personal training contracts.

In the Vaughn settlement, LA Fitness members from all states except California and New Jersey who cancelled their Monthly Dues Membership Agreement between May 18, 2006 and January 1, 2013 can receive a free 45-Day Club Access Pass if they submit a claim by August 9, 2013.

In the Martina v. LA Fitness settlement, Class Members will not only receive a 45-day pass, but also a check for a third of a month of dues, and a choice between two free training sessions or $100 toward a new membership.

Class Members of the Martina settlement include two classes: all individuals who (1) entered into a Fitness Service Agreement in New Jersey with LA Fitness between February 28, 2006 and March 31, 2012; and (2) all individuals who entered into a Monthly Dues Membership Agreement with LA Fitness in New Jersey during the same time period and who paid for an additional month of dues (in addition to the application of pre-paid lass months due) after LA Fitness received a Notice of Cancellation and the payment of an additional month of dues was not subsequently refunded.

Details on how to file a claim for the Martina v. LA Fitness Class Action Lawsuit Settlement can be found herein our Open Class Action Lawsuits section.

The case is Martina v. LA Fitness International LLC, Case No, 12-cv-02063, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.