A Dallas woman has filed suit against LA Fitness for comments and exercises her trainers made her do. She says they were sexually suggestive. You would think the suit filed would be for sexual harassment. But no, Chase Laws, the attorney who filed it, said that would be for the workplace. Instead, he filed a suit for Deceptive Trade Practices and Negligence. He reasons, as a consumer, the woman signed a contract. She lived up to her end of the bargain. LA Fitness didn’t live up to theirs by providing a safe workout environment.
Jaimie Johnson went to LA Fitness in Plano to get fit. But she says two personal trainers talked to her in ways that are unfit for anyone. She says, she questioned one trainer when he asked her to do “strange exercises.” “He would answer bluntly, ‘So, I can see your chest move while you do it. And, not in an exercising kind of way. More in a sexual way,” Johnson said. But she said nothing. She just stopped going only to return for a new trainer.
But the new trainer also made sexually suggestive comments, even sending her a vulgar text. Her five-year-old son had the phone when it came in. “That’s extremely inappropriate and I felt embarrassed and ashamed and violated,” she said. That was back in June. She hasn’t been back since. When she contacted L-A Fitness corporate offices and complained, they offered her $400. Johnson was paying $200 a month and she had signed a two year contract.
Her next move was to contact Chase Laws, an attorney. “This was probably just an effort to move this along like perhaps any other claim that may come through their door,” Laws said. He filed a suit saying Jamie Johnson had suffered traumatic emotional distress and couldn’t function through her daily activities. And, because of that, her husband suffered too. Johnson said she tried going back to a gym regularly but hasn’t been able to.
She says she wants proper compensation, though her attorney said they wouldn’t discuss what that would be. She also wants to send a message. “I would like to have these guys realize they can’t treat women this way,” she said. Her attorney said he tried contacting L-A Fitness before filing the suit. First, he sent a demand letter. Then, he hand delivered a draft petition to LA Fitness in Plano. He never heard back from them. CBS 11 called L-A Fitness corporate headquarters too but have not heard back from them yet either.
