When you’re hurt by defective exercise equipment, you may have grounds for a personal injury lawsuit against the manufacturer, the retailer, or the gym.
Exercise equipment injuries can be caused by design flaws, manufacturing defects, faulty installation, and improper use.
More than 526,000 people end up in the emergency room each year with injuries caused by exercise equipment. Of those, more than 43,000 are critically or fatally injured.¹
Fitness equipment injuries can happen at home or at your local gym. Wherever you or a loved one are hurt by faulty equipment, you have the right to seek compensation for your losses.
When You Can Sue for Gym Equipment Injuries
You can seek compensation for serious injuries caused by faulty or defective fitness equipment, but you’ll need expert legal help to get fair compensation.
Product liability cases are complicated. When you are going up against corporate giants like fitness equipment manufacturers and gym owners, they have an army of insurance experts and defense lawyers ready to fight against you.
Most product liability law firms offer a free consultation to victims. If you move ahead with litigation, most injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning the attorneys’ fees aren’t paid unless they negotiate a settlement or win your case in court.
Minor Injuries from Faulty Equipment
If you’ve recovered from minor injuries caused by defective fitness equipment, and have little or no medical bills for treatment, you probably won’t get very far with an injury claim. Your potential recovery would be very low.
Even with minor injuries, you are encouraged to report faulty home exercise equipment to consumer agencies.
Dangerous home fitness equipment can be reported to the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Overcoming Gym Member Liability Waivers
If you were injured by equipment in a private gym or fitness facility, the first obstacle you’ll face is the release papers you undoubtedly signed when you joined the gym.
Practically every gym or fitness center won’t let you in the door until you’ve signed a waiver of liability, meaning you give up your right to sue the gym if you get hurt. The gym will say you assumed the risk by knowing you could get hurt at the gym but chose to work out there anyway.
A skilled attorney can overcome those defenses, often by arguing that you could not knowingly assume a risk of injury that the average person wouldn’t expect to happen, like defective equipment.
Beware of Contributory and Comparative Negligence
No matter where you were injured, the equipment manufacturer will almost certainly try to put the blame back on you, by arguing you used the equipment incorrectly, failed to assemble the equipment correctly, or some other excuse.
In some states, like Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, the manufacturer can use a pure contributory negligence argument to defeat your claim if they can put as little as one percent of the blame on you.
Most states use modified comparative fault rules that allow the right to pursue an injury claim even if you’re partially to blame for your injuries. The amount of compensation you can get is reduced according to your share of the blame.
An experienced attorney can ensure you get the maximum compensation you deserve, even when you might have contributed to your injuries.
Case Example: Reduced Award for Gym Equipment Injury
Harold Leon Bostick was injured in January 2001 while doing squats on a Flex Smith machine at a Gold’s Gym. Bostick was lifting more than 300 pounds when he collapsed while doing a squat and dropped the weight bar.
He had not lifted that much before, and did not have a “spotter.”
Because the “dead-stop” on the weight machine was set too low, the falling weight-lifting bar on the machine crushed Bostick’s spine and broke his neck, leaving him permanently paralyzed.
On Bostick’s behalf, his attorney filed a lawsuit against the fitness machine manufacturer and the gym.
The jury determined Bostick’s claim value was $16.3 million, but reduced his total award by 10 percent for comparative negligence, arriving at a final verdict of $14.4 million.
When you’ve suffered serious injuries from defective fitness equipment, you don’t have to face the corporate giants on your own. You are entitled to seek full compensation for your injuries and suffering. Find out what a good personal injury attorney can do for you.
Liability for Faulty Gym Equipment
There are three potential at-fault parties when you’ve been hurt by faulty exercise equipment. Your lawsuit may be against the manufacturer, the retailer, the fitness club owner, or a combination of these parties.
The basis for your injury claim depends on the at-fault party:
- Manufacturer – If you’ve been injured by faulty exercise equipment, you can seek compensation from the maker of the defective equipment with a product liability lawsuit.
- Distributor – If you bought the exercise product for home use, you might have a claim against the retail store where you purchased the defective equipment.
- Facility – If you were injured by equipment malfunctions in a private gym, you might also want to file a liability claim against the gym or fitness center for failing to provide safe equipment.
In a product liability case against the exercise equipment manufacturer, you’ll need to show that if it weren’t for a defect in the equipment, you would not have been injured.
A product liability claim involves one or more of these types of product defects:
- Design defects are mistakes or flaws built into the equipment when it’s first manufactured, or during design modifications, like heavy machines with a high center of gravity that makes them easily tip over.
- Manufacturing defects can occur even if the product’s design was safe, but there was a mistake made while the equipment was being made, like missing bolts or exposed wires.
- Marketing defects (“Failure to Warn”) happen when the manufacturer doesn’t provide the user with enough information to safely install or use the equipment, like failing to warn that the equipment cannot accommodate users over a certain weight.
To win your injury case, you must prove:
- The manufacturer, retailer, or gym owner had a legal duty of care not to cause harm.
- They were negligent and breached their duty of care.
- As a direct and proximate result of that breach, you were injured.
- Your injuries resulted in measurable and verifiable damages.
Winning Injury Cases Require Good Evidence
Successful injury claims are supported by good evidence. Begin collecting evidence from the moment you’re injured, as best you can.
How to Collect Evidence to Support Your Claim
1. Report the Injury
Don’t hesitate to ask someone to call the manager at a gym. You must report gym injuries when they occur. They may complete an incident report. Request contact information for the gym’s insurance company. If necessary, your personal injury lawyer can subpoena a copy of the incident report.
2. Get Prompt Medical Treatment
A delay in medical treatment can sink your claim. The other side may argue that the fitness equipment didn’t cause your injuries, rather you were injured at a later time.
If you’re badly hurt, have someone call 911. If the paramedics want to take you to the hospital, cooperate with them. If your injuries don’t require emergency care, see your doctor or go to an urgent care center as soon as possible. Tell every medical provider you see exactly when, where, and how you were injured.
3. Collect Medical Records
You’ll need copies of your medical bills and records. Your treatment records will prove you were injured by the faulty exercise equipment and establish the scope and severity of your injuries.
4. Document Lost Wages
If you missed work, ask your employer for verification of wages you’ve lost because of your injuries, including lost opportunities for overtime, bonuses, vacation, and sick days.
5. Take Photographs
As soon as possible, take photos and video of the equipment that caused your injury. If there was blood, pulled hair, or skin on the equipment or floor, take pictures of that, too. There may be photos or security camera videos that capture the accident when it happened, paramedics working on you, and gym employees cleaning up the machine afterward.
6. Talk to Witnesses
Witness statements are important to injury claims. Even if you were injured at home, if you have friends or family members who saw or heard what happened, they should write it down. Your attorney may also contact gym staff and patrons to ask for witness statements and check if they took any cell phone pictures or videos.
7. Keep a Journal
As soon as possible after your injury, start writing daily notes about the accident, how it happened, your injuries, and all your medical treatment. Keep track of your pain levels, and how the injuries from the defective equipment have impacted your activities of daily living.
Common Fitness Equipment Failures and Injuries
At home or the gym, people of all ages and fitness levels are injured every day on exercise machines. Most injuries are minor muscle sprains and strains, caused by plain old overexertion. Injuries caused by defective products can range from cuts and abrasion to permanent disability.
Compensable injuries from faulty gym equipment may include:
- Knee injuries
- Broken bones
- Face and eye injuries
- Concussions and brain injuries
- Neck and back injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
Treadmills
Treadmills are involved in a large proportion of serious fitness injuries. Treadmill belts can be misaligned or improperly tightened. Safety features may be missing, such as an auto-stop function if the user falls. There may be gaps in the moving belts, or hanging cables that pose dangers to children in the home.
Case Example: Fatal Treadmill Accident
On May 26, 2009, the four-year-old daughter of former boxer Mike Tyson died from a tragic treadmill accident. Exodus Tyson was fatally strangled when her neck was caught in a cord hanging from the treadmill console.
The investigating police officer Andy Hill stated, “Somehow, she was playing on this treadmill, and there’s a cord that hangs under the console; it’s kind of a loop,” Hill said. “Either she slipped or put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, and she was obviously unable to get herself off of it.”
Exercise Bikes
Exercise bikes may have missing or broken pedal straps, improperly attached seats or handlebars, or exposed gears and belts that can catch on clothing or pinch skin.
Resistance Bands
Resistance bands are a popular at-home exercise product that can cause serious injury if the band slips, snaps, or breaks.
For example, retired Senator Harry Reid filed a faulty exercise equipment lawsuit against a resistance band manufacturer after a broken band seriously injured him. The outcome of the lawsuit has not been made public.
Weight Lifting Equipment
Weight lifting equipment failure can result in serious injuries if the weight racks, cables, or bars are damaged, defective, or worn.
Unstable Workout Machines
Many types of machines used in home gyms and fitness centers are large and tall, such as elliptical machines, stair climbers, pulley systems, and more. Machines that are poorly designed or improperly installed can tip over, causing serious injuries.
Case Example: Multi-Million Dollar Settlement for Unstable Gym Machine
On October 24, 2004, Natalie Barnhard was working as a physical therapy assistant at Amherst Orthopedic Physical Therapy. She was leaning on a 600-pound Cybex Leg Extension Machine when it tipped over on her.
Barnhard’s neck was crushed by the falling machine, leaving her paralyzed from the neck down. Her attorneys filed suit against Cybex, the machine’s manufacturer. Worker’s compensation laws prohibited Barnhard from suing her employer.
The jury originally awarded $66 million to Barnhard. However, on appeal by Cybex, the pain and suffering part of her award was cut by $21 million down to $12 million. The liability portion of her award was preserved. Cybex eventually settled with Barnhard in 2012 for $19.5 million.