Anne Bucher  |  March 1, 2018

Category: Consumer News

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Fitness 19 class action lawsuitFitness 19 LLC has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the gym illegally debits consumers’ bank accounts on a recurring basis without first obtaining a written authorization to do so.

Plaintiff Brent Maggard of Los Angeles County, Calif., filed the Fitness 19 class action lawsuit on Feb. 15 in California federal court. He claims he was a member of a Fitness 19 gym but cancelled his membership in 2014.

In 2016, Maggard signed up for a membership with the same Fitness 19 gym and entered into an auto-debit plan.

According to the Fitness 19 class action lawsuit, Fitness 19 not only opened a new membership account for Maggard, but also reactivated his old account and began billing him monthly for both memberships.

In May 2017, Maggard discovered that Fitness 19 was debiting his bank account for $15 and $24 per month. Upon discovering the dual monthly charges, he says he went to the gym and asked a representative why there were two accounts instead of just the one. According to the Fitness 19 class action lawsuit, the representative was “condescending” and told Maggard that it was not an error that he had two separate accounts.

Maggard says he requested cancellation of both Fitness 19 memberships and revoked his consent for auto-billing, but he was again automatically billed $15 and $24.

Maggard claims that Fitness 19 did not obtain his authorization to deduct funds twice monthly from his bank account, yet continued to deduct the monthly sum for several months without his authorization. The Fitness 19 class action lawsuit alleges these unauthorized debits violate the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, California’s Unfair Competition Law and California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

According to the Fitness 19 unauthorized membership class action lawsuit, the gym’s billing practices caused Maggard to pay more than $200 in excess of the amount he had agreed to pay for his gym membership. He says he would not have purchased the Fitness 19 membership if he had known it would charge him for two separate memberships.

The Fitness 19 class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Maggard and a proposed Class of U.S. consumers whose bank accounts were debited on a reoccurring basis by Fitness 19 without the gym having obtained a written authorization signed or authenticated for preauthorized electronic fund transfers within the past year.

Maggard also seeks to represent a Class of California consumers who purchased memberships from Fitness 19 in the last four years.

The Fitness 19 unauthorized membership class action lawsuit is seeking statutory damages for violations of the EFTA in the amount of $1,000 per Class Member. Maggard also seeks actual restitution, statutory enhanced damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, equitable and injunctive relief, prejudgment interest and any other relief the court deems appropriate.

Maggard is represented by Todd M. Friedman, Adrian R. Bacon, Meghan E. George and Thomas E. Wheeler of Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman PC.

The Fitness 19 Unauthorized Membership Class Action Lawsuit is Brent Maggard v. Fitness 19 LLC, et al., Case No. 8:18-cv-00263-CJC-JDE, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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49 thoughts onFitness 19 Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Unauthorized Memberships

  1. David Ratliff says:

    These people secretly charged me for months on an account I didn’t even know I had, totaling more than $600, I have placed my account on cancel and they keep charging me. I want to be added to this lawsuit.

  2. Michelle Hayes says:

    okay, so today January, 30th, 2023 about what happened between me and the manager of Fitness 19 Menifee, CA, I am deaf and use VP (videophone) to communicate with an interpreter to communicate with them on the phone about my membership is on hold and canceled because my health concerns from my doctor note I emailed person name is Brian never email me back I’m not sure if he receives an email from me I told the manager about it so it was so lack of communication and he said rudely to me and my husband both are deaf I couldn’t come in there to check with my bank account they took money out of my account supposed not because my membership was on hold and canceled I prefer to communicate through VP easy for me we have a two years old son napping and take care of we can’t come in there because no interpreter and not good communicate through. The manager was so rude and attitude toward us. I sue the manager.

  3. Evelyn R Ozo Felty says:

    Please add me to the class action lawsuits, I signed my son who has autism with fitness 19 because he said his friend will get $1 dollar off his membership and he was going to exercise with his friend , but his friend stop going with him so my son stopped going and so I asked them to cancel the membership last December of 2021 and they still charging my cc until now, I have repeatedly told them to cancel and even changed my cc but for some reason they are able to get around to charging the new cc. It is frustrating and they have berated my son and have belittled him and not let him have a drink of water when he was thirsty. Very poor customer service and all they care about is the fees they collect.

  4. Jennie Davenport says:

    HeylllFitness 19 has been charging me since 2018. I am a Senior and can not get ANY RELIEF FROM THEM .Have been complaining and have put a stop payment on my bank acct. Cancelled them and they just went around that and increased my payments.PLEASE HELP!!!

  5. Jennie Davenport says:

    Please sign me up. Fitness 19 has been charging me since Aug 2018 and I have canceled, put a stop payment on my Checking Acct only to have them increase the fee and go around my stop payment. Please help .

  6. LL says:

    Please add me to this class action lawsuit. The same thing is happening to me and they refuse to remove the charges.

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