A California federal judge has granted a temporary dismissal of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit alleging that LA Fitness failed to accommodate patrons with disabilities, ruling that the government did not sufficiently allege a pattern or practice of discrimination or provide proper notice of the claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson dismissed the DOJ’s complaint without prejudice, allowing the government the opportunity to amend and refile its allegations against Fitness International LLC, which operates nearly 700 LA Fitness locations nationwide. The suit originally claimed that the gym chain discriminated against disabled patrons by failing to repair broken pool lifts, charging caretakers additional fees, and maintaining inaccessible facilities.
In his order, Judge Wilson emphasized that the DOJ’s complaint relied on claims from only four unnamed patrons at unspecified locations within the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which the court found insufficient to establish a nationwide pattern of discrimination. The judge also ruled that the complaint failed to give LA Fitness adequate notice of the scope and nature of the allegations deemed by the attorney general as being of “general public importance” under the ADA.
“This temporary dismissal underscores the importance of clear and detailed allegations in civil enforcement actions,” said the court order. “The government’s current claims do not meet the threshold necessary to proceed at this stage.”
The DOJ’s joint action, brought by its Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, accuses LA Fitness, based in Irvine, California, of ADA violations including inaccessible showers, broken elevators, and unlawful surcharges on disabled patrons’ caretakers.
LA Fitness argued in a December motion to dismiss that the cited incidents were isolated and resulted from localized decisions, not reflective of a systemic failure to accommodate disabled members at a national level.
The case, U.S. v. Fitness International LLC dba LA Fitness, Case No. 8:24-cv-02172, remains pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
