Suit claims LA Fitness won't honor some Bally memberships
A pair of Chicago-area men are suing the national health club chain LA Fitness claiming the company fraudulently refused to honor their memberships after buying 171 Bally Total Fitness clubs nationwide, including all 27 in Illinois.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court this week by Juan Dorado of Glendale Heights and Chicago resident Michael Markzon, seeks undisclosed damages as well as a court order requiring the company to accept their Bally memberships.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Christopher Cooper, is asking the court to certify the suit as a class action, saying he has heard from hundreds of other club members already and believes damages could go as high as $5 million.
“LA Fitness knowingly bought contracts it knew it could never service,” Cooper said Monday. “This isn't just a mistake in my opinion but an intentional effort to dupe the public.”
Representatives from Bally Total Fitness and LA Fitness did not return calls for comment Monday. LA Fitness previously released a statement on its website indicating it would be servicing all of the Bally memberships acquired through its December purchase of the clubs.
But members who bought lifetime Bally memberships at a location other than where they currently live, and a club that wasn't purchased by LA Fitness, may fall into a category where their memberships are no longer being honored, Cooper said.
The suit states Dorado bought four lifetime Bally memberships for his family. According to the suit, Dorado was told LA Fitness will not honor the memberships at its Illinois locations, but that he can work out at the St. Louis Bally club, where he originally bought his membership.
Markzon, according to the suit, has worked out at a Chicago Bally club for 11 years, but LA Fitness will not honor his membership because he originally purchased it in Kansas.
In Illinois, all 27 Bally clubs were part of the sale to LA Fitness, and four clubs, including one in Schaumburg, closed in December.
The case was assigned to Judge Milton Shadur, who in a few weeks will decide if it will be turned into a class-action suit.