Keevil v. Life Time Fitness, Inc.
| Decision Date | 30 March 2016 |
| Docket Number | NO. 1-15-1551,1-15-1551 |
| Citation | 2016 IL App (1st) 151551 -U |
| Parties | KEVIN KEEVIL and WENDY AUSTIN, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LIFE TIME FITNESS, INC., a foreign corporation, Defendant-Appellee, SPRI PRODUCTS, INC., an Illinois corporation, Defendant. SPRI PRODUCTS, INC., an Illinois corporation, Third-Party-Plaintiff, v. PRIME RESOURCES CORPORATION d/b/a PRIMELINE INDUSTRIES, a foreign corporation, Third-Party-Defendant. SPRI PRODUCTS, INC., an Illinois corporation, Counter-Plaintiff, v. LIFE TIME FITNESS, INC., a foreign corporation, Counter-Defendant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and may not be cited as precedent by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.
The Honorable John P. Callahan, Jr., Judge Presiding.
¶ 1 Held: Finding no genuine issue of material fact, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where fitness membership agreement is valid and enforceable; exculpatory provisions bar plaintiffs' negligence claims; exculpatory provisions bar plaintiff's spoliation claims which are mere derivatives of the negligence claims; and there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding whether fitness center's conduct constituted an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for patron's safety. Affirmed.
¶ 2 Plaintiffs-Appellants Kevin Keevil and Wendy Austin sued defendant-appellee Life Time Fitness, Inc. (Life Time) for injuries Keevil sustained in October 2009 while exercising in a Life Time fitness facility. Life Time filed a motion for summary judgment under section 2-1005 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (735 ILCS 5/2-1005 (West 2012)). After a full briefing, the trial court granted summary judgment for Life Time. Plaintiffs appeal, contending summary judgment was improper because: (1) plaintiffs' membership contract with Life Time Fitness is void and unenforceable and, therefore, the exculpatory provisions of the contract do not bar plaintiffs' claims; (2) there are genuine issues of material fact regarding whether plaintiffs' spoliation claim is outside the scope of the exculpatory provisions of the membership contract; and (3) there are genuine issues of material fact regarding whether Life Time's conduct constituted an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for Keevil's safety. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
¶ 4 The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. On October 6, 2009, Keevil was working out at the Life Time Fitness club in Burr Ridge, Illinois. According to Keevil, he sustained an eye injury when the exercise resistance band (hereinafter "exertube")1 he was using in the swimming pool broke and struck him in the eye.
¶ 5 Keevil testified at his deposition that he joined Life Time Fitness in 2004 or early 2005. He then exercised at Life Time approximately five or six times per week up until his injury. He generally worked out in the swimming pool and the weight room. He never worked with a personal trainer nor received any sort of instruction at Life Time regarding using any of the equipment. He never asked any questions of any person at Life Time Fitness regarding how to use particular exercise equipment. Keevil testified that his wife joined Life Time approximately a year and a half before he joined. The two did not work out together. His wife, Wendy, had a personal trainer at Life Time and also worked at Life Time.
¶ 6 Keevil began using a Spri exertube during his workouts around April 2007. He first used a blue colored exertube. Starting in April 2007, he used an exertube "almost every time" he swam, or approximately four or five times per week. Keevil testified that he would get the exertube from the "pool deck." He testified that, although he had never taken any sort of water exercise class in the swimming pool, he had seen a trainer using the band in the swimming pool while training an individual. Keevil said:
He never saw any other Life Time employee doing these exercises.
¶ 7 Keevil explained that he would do "fly" movements with the exertube in the swimming pool. To do so, he would wrap the exertube around the swimming pool ladder that comes from the ground on the pool deck. It was stationary and attached to the pool deck. The part of the ladder he wrapped the exertube around was above the water. Then, with his back toward the ladder, he put his feet Then, he would turn around and face the ladder with his feet He would lean as far back as possible during this exercise. Keevil explained that the swimming pool is three and one-half feet to four feet deep where he was exercising. Keevil testified that, after he started doing these exercises with the band in the swimming pool, other members started doing them, as well.
¶ 8 Keevil described the exertube as being four to five feet long, smooth rubber with handles on either end. The exertubes were available in a variety of colors. The colors demark the level of resistance offered by the exertube. The first time he did this exercise in the swimming pool, he used a sky blue exertube. He used many different colors of exertubes during through the years, but his preference was the purple. Keevil opined that the purple had the "heaviest" tension. Keevil testified that, when he would go to the Life Time Fitnessswimming pool, there would sometimes be "only two or three" exertubes near the pool, and sometimes there would be more. He described the exertubes as "hanging on the rack" near other aquatic equipment such as the kickboards. Before using an exertube, Keevil would stretch it "just to see that there was tension" and that "it seemed to be working fine." He would not "thoroughly" examine the exertube for cuts or worn areas, but would only stretch it. In the months that he used these exertubes, Keevil never encountered one that was worn that he rejected; he never "put one back." In fact, he never found one that was "worn in any way." Sometimes the exertubes were wet and Keevil would wipe the water off before using the band.
¶ 9 Prior to his injury, Keevil neither read nor asked to read any information on the Spri exertubes. Nor had he ever used a different brand of resistance band prior to his injury. Keevil never talked to a Life Time employee or personal trainer about using the Spri exertubes. Keevil also never talked to any other Life Time member about using the exertubes.
¶ 10 When asked if he knew "whether or not the exercise tube was made in such a way for an exercise using a ladder in a pool like you were doing on the day of the accident?" Keevil responded, "I don't know if that is what it was for."
¶ 11 Prior to his injury, Keevil had never heard of an exertube snapping and injuring somebody.
¶ 12 On the day of his injury, Keevil arrived at Life Time Fitness around 3:20 in the afternoon. His wife was not there. He swam about one mile. After swimming, he got out of the swimming pool and retrieved a blue Spri exertube that was "hanging on the rack." He stretched the exertube several times as he walked back to the pool. He did not feel anyproblem with the exertube. He did not see anybody else using an exertube in the pool. He reentered in the water and wrapped the exertube around the ladder posts. Holding both handles, he then did the "back to the ladder fly," or "open fly." He did three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions each. During those exercises, he did not feel any problem with the exertube. Then, he turned to face the ladder and did an "inward arm curl." Because he was now facing the ladder, he was now looking at the exertube as he exercised and he did not see any "stretching or wear of any kind on the band." He was planning to do three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions each. Partway through, however, the exertube broke. Keevil testified it "lost tension" and he heard a snapping noise. He fell backward, still holding both handles. He felt dizzy and had a "tremendous headache." Keevil clarified that his feet were not on the ground during the exercise he was doing when the exertube broke, but were instead "planted" against the side of the pool. There was, therefore, "a lot of tension on the band." Keevil specifically described his position:
After a moment, Keevil realized that when the exertube broke, the recoil of the band snapped it into his face, hitting his right eye. Another swimmer approached to ask if he was alright. Keevil walked to the side...
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