Legal Question in Consumer Law in Iowa

Gym Membership

I signed a 1 year membership at a health club in Des Moines, IA that was several miles from my home. After signing the contract and going home, I realized that it was too far of a drive and chose to follow the cancelation policy of sending my intention of cancelation within 72 hours. I stopped payment on the check. I never heard anymore, nor were any of the auto-debits taken from my bank account. I learned that while I was out-of-the country on an internship a year later, that i was served papers (my roomate never told me) and a judgment was entered against me. The gym will not return my calls. Is this legal??? i have a copy of my cancelation letter, but never sent the notice by certified mail or anything because I never thought anything would come of this. I found the judgment while pulling my credit history before purchasing a car. quite a surprise. Please let me know what I could do. The judgment is for $600, so it probably would be silly to hire an attorney...


Asked on 8/15/06, 3:45 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
David Anderson Anderson Business Law LLC

Re: Gym Membership

You either need to bring a motion to vacate or deal with the judgment creditor directly to "satisfy" the judgment.

For that amount, you're right, it would likely not be cost effective to hire counsel.

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Answered on 8/15/06, 4:02 pm
Anthony DeWitt Bartimus, Frickleton Robertson & Gorny, PC

Re: Gym Membership

If you did not receive actual notice of the lawsuit (i.e., you were out of the country and can demostrate that you were to the court) the judgment could be vacated for failure to obtain service of process. An attorney might handle something like this for a relatively small fee. If you decide you don't want to do that, you might see about trying to contact the firm that obtained the judgment and getting them to accept something less than full payment in exchange for not filing a motion to vacate.

Good luck

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Answered on 8/15/06, 4:19 pm


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