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Government Actions

Gov. Action
The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the government's allegations, which have not yet been proven.



On December 7, 2017, the State of Michigan, 17th Circuit Court for Kent Count issued an Opinion and Order Granting Preliminary Injunction in the case of Bill Schuette, Attorney General of the State of Michigan v. Family Fitness.



Despite the Court's serious concerns about the propriety and the legality of the defendants' practices, the Court cannot impose a sweeping injunctive order that effectively provides the Attorney General of the State of Michigan with monetary relief that should more appropriately take the form of money damages available only at the conclusion of this case. In addition, the Court cannot use an injunction to alter or prescribe the contractual provisions that govern the relationships between defendants and its customers.



Accordingly, the Court shall enter a preliminary injunction that curtails the most abusive sharp practices of the defendants, but the Court must leave to another day some complicated matters such as appropriate financial relief and curtailment of the defendants' ability to enter into contractual relationships with customers.



Based on the Court's careful analysis of the nine requests from the Attorney General, it is ordered that defendant Family Fitness is prohibited and enjoined from engaging in the following activities:



Disallowing, preventing or ignoring any written cancellation made by a consumer seeking to terminate any membership or personal training agreement, regardless of when that agreement was entered into;



Applying the electronic signature of any Michigan consumer to any agreement without his or her express knowledge and consent;



Stating, or suggesting, that signing a new membership or personal training agreement is a prerequisite to removing any past debts from collection;



Maintaining or enforcing any membership agreement entered into by a consumer who entered into the agreement following a statement by Family Fitness that doing so would cause a prior debt claimed by Family Fitness to be removed from collections or otherwise resolved;



Telling any consumer that a membership, personal training session, or other benefit or prize is "free" or will be provided without charge if any costs or charges will be applied;



Using the promise of prizes to generate business, except to the extent Family Fitness fully complies with the requirements of MCL 450.903.