New York Sports Clubs must stop charging membership fees to customers who’ve tried to cancel their accounts amid the pandemic or whose gym locations haven’t reopened, a judge ruled.
After New York Attorney General Letitia James brought a case against NYSC and sister chain Lucille Roberts last week alleging they were illegally profiting from the coronavirus shutdowns, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Debra James issued a temporary court order siding with the AG.
The clubs are “temporarily restrained from charging, or attempting to charge, any dues, fines, or penalties to members in New York who have submitted cancellation requests since March 16, 2020, and charging, or attempting to charge, any dues, fines or penalties to members in New York whose primary (or “home”) gym remains,” the order reads.
The judge set a hearing date for later this month.
“This order stops New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts dead in their tracks and halts these health clubs from continuing to unlawfully charge many of their members,” James said in a statement.
A lawyer for Town Sports International — the parent company for NYSC and Lucille Roberts — did not immediately return a request for comment.