DOYLESTOWN, PA -- LA Fitness has consented to an injunction that B&R Family Fitness Center in Feasterville, PA, had requested from the Court of Common Pleas in Bucks County, PA.

B&R filed a lawsuit on Dec. 9 against the Huntingdon Valley, PA, LA Fitness, claiming that employees of LA Fitness, which is based in Irvine, CA, are dissuading prospective members from going to B&R by telling them B&R is on the verge of bankruptcy, closing or has other financial problems.

By consenting to the injunction, a hearing that was scheduled for today will not take place, says B&R attorney Michael Eidel. A hearing before a judge would have included witnesses from both parties testifying under oath, Eidel adds.

“Companies don’t agree to injunctions for nothing,” Eidel says. “If LA Fitness really did not make these statements, then why should LA Fitness not want to go through a short, two-hour hearing and produce their witnesses to say so?”

The case will go through the discovery process, and if there is no settlement, a trial is expected to begin in the fall, Eidel says.

LA Fitness does not typically comment on matters involving pending litigation, the company said in a statement sent through its attorney, Norman Briggs. However, LA Fitness maintains that there is no merit to the allegations.

“The facts will reveal that this whole matter is simply about two businesses competing fairly in the free marketplace,” the company said in the statement. “As far as the stipulation agreeing to the injunction, LA Fitness denied any wrongdoing and merely agreed to adhere to conduct itself in a manner consistent with its standard business practices.”

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