Disclaimer: What you’re about to read below is meant to serve as a background for you to read in case you become injured while in the course of your fitness training, and is not a substitute for serious legal advice. For more information on what legal remedies regarding fitness training-related injuries are available for you to take, you should ask for counsel from a licensed lawyer who knows better how to handle cases like yours.
With the health and fitness craze still in full swing, fitness centers are an alluring option if you’re the type who couldn’t find the time to exercise or don’t have enough space and equipment to do so either outdoors or even right in the comfort of your own home. After all, a fitness center comes equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for you to use, and you can even let yourself be taken under the wing of a personal trainer who will guide you towards an exercise regimen that’s tailor-fit – pun intended – for your needs. They don’t come for free though as running a fitness center is still very much a business at the end of the day so you’d have to pay for membership and sign a contract for you to fully enjoy the services that it has to offer. However, the same contract that you signed to become a member of your desired fitness center may not be able to help you if ever you get injured while using the equipment or undergoing training from an instructor under their employ.
Your Fitness Center Membership Contract’s Assumption of Risk Might Work Against You
If you had passively signed your fitness center membership contract, you might not have taken the time to pour over the specifics contained there or even read it word for word.
- Every fitness center membership contract usually includes a clause in its fine print known as assumption of risk that absolves their owners, trainers and staff members from being held accountable for any injuries that might occur to you there.
- Another clause being used by fitness center membership contracts might state that you’re supposed to confirm that you don’t have any debilitating medical condition that would significantly affect your training.
You Can Sue Your Fitness Center for Injuries That You Sustained There
The good news though is that as long as it’s not your fault, you can hold your fitness center accountable for any injuries that you had sustained while training inside their premises by filing a personal injury lawsuit against them. You may even be able to make your fitness center pay you for damages, especially if you’ve proven that they can be held accountable for any of the following:
- Defective or poorly maintained equipment
- Harmful advice handed out to you by your personal trainer or some other staff member
- Floor hazards that might cause you to slip and fall
- Improperly stored objects that may fall on you
- The assumption of risk clause of your membership contract is either too vague or typed in very small letters that render it almost unreadable
How Can You Win a Personal Injury Lawsuit That You Filed Against Your Fitness Center?
As impossible as it may initially sound to you given that your fitness center is most likely to distance itself from any liability on their end by making you sign a membership contract with an assumption of risk clause in it, you can in fact file a personal injury lawsuit against them and even win it in court once you’ve done the following:
1. Seek medical attention right away.
As much as you want to drag the fitness center that caused you insufferable injuries to court, you would have to take care of your own health first.
- After sustaining a more than minor injury while doing your training in your fitness center, you should have it checked and treated immediately by a doctor.
- You shouldn’t let your injuries stay as is or make them worse than they are for them to not become a hindrance to you once you decide to push forward with your personal injury lawsuit.
2. Hire a personal injury lawyer to help you with your dilemma.
Since you’re not that well-versed with anything that has to do with your legal rights if you’ve been injured through no fault of your own, you would want to contact a personal injury lawyer to help you out with the legal course of action that you should take against your fitness center.
- Even better, of course, is if you can find an attorney who has handled a case almost similar to yours before.
- The personal injury lawyer that you’ll be hiring can help you sift through the details of the membership contract that you signed with the fitness center that you’re filing a lawsuit against and note which provisions in there can be challenged in court at the very least.
3. File your personal injury lawsuit against your fitness center within a certain time frame as specified by your state.
Your state court doesn’t have forever to wait for you to file your personal injury lawsuit against your fitness center.
- Every state has its own statute of limitations that identifies the time limit for filing civil and criminal lawsuits.
- You would want to file your personal injury lawsuit within your state’s statute of limitations or else risk losing any rights you have to make your fitness center pay for damages caused to you and your well-being.
What Are the Types of Damages That You Could Get from Your Fitness Center After Having Been Injured There?
In case you decide to push forward with your personal injury lawsuit against the fitness center that you’re a member of and you’ve won your case against them in court, you may be entitled to recover the following damages:
- Lost wages and earning capacity as a result of the injuries that you’ve sustained and weren’t your own doing while training in your fitness center.
- Physical and emotional distress caused by your fitness training-related injuries.
- Amount of money that you’ve spent for having your injuries treated by a doctor.
- The estimated amount of money that you’ll be spending if ever you’ll be needing physical rehabilitation and therapy for you to fully recover from the injuries that you sustained.
- The estimated amount of money that you’ll be spending in case you have to make your house wheelchair-accessible or pay for someone to take care of you after becoming physically disabled as a result of your injuries.
While engaging in fitness training might result in an occasional minor injury or two, keeping yourself fit and healthy doesn’t have to result in you sustaining injuries that might force you to quit exercising altogether and worse, be handicapped for life. If you’ve proven through the evidence you gathered that the fitness center is at fault for the injuries that you had acquired while doing your usual training there, you shouldn’t hesitate to exercise – pun intended – all your legal options with a personal injury lawyer and make your fitness center accountable by filing a lawsuit against them.
