Liability and Damages for Fitness-Based Lawsuits

Over the past several issues, we have examined the risks involved in failing to prioritize legal responsibilities in your fitness career and discussed how to actively manage those risks in your daily operations. Now it is time to take the next step and learn about the different categories of legal damages you might have to pay should you be liable for another’s injuries. Although this material can be highly technical, a general understanding of it is indispensable to anyone training clients in today’s highly litigious society.

Most lawsuits brought against fitness professionals involve negligence. While damages are the focus of this particular column, remember that, in any negligence case, the following four elements must be satisfied:

• a legal duty
• a breach of that duty
• causation
• damages (Champion 2000)

First and foremost, damages are required in order for there to be a legitimate case alleging negligence. More specifically, actual injury is required. Unlike in intentional torts, no nominal damages can be awarded in a negligence case (American Law Institute 1979; §907, comment a). Three types of compensatory damages that are commonly awarded are nominal damages, hedonistic damages and future damages.

Nominal damages are symbolic, low-dollar awards imposed simply to teach people a lesson. A nominal award is, in essence, a warning to act differently next time you are in a similar situation. The award is not imposed as a means of remedying, penalizing or compensating someone for some physical, emotional or economic loss.

In a negligence case, the harm suffered must be physical in nature. Mental anguish alone is insufficient. To qualify, there must be definite physical symptoms. However, once physical harm is established, other types of harm may be compensated for as part of the same lawsuit (Glannon 2000). Examples of other types of harm include economic losses, such as medical expenses and lost wages, as well as mental distresses, such as shock, anxiety and humiliation. (This is understandable, since a physically active person who rips a muscle during a workout will likely suffer from both mental and economic distress.) That means that if you are found liable for negligence, you run the risk of having to pay a large sum of money to compensate for physical, economic and mental harm. Typical components of any personal-injury case are medical bills, lost wages and mental suffering.

Another type of compensation you may fail to anticipate is an award for hedonistic damages. These damages compensate for the loss of one’s ability to enjoy life (Glannon 2000). For example, if a client rips a hamstring muscle during training, then that person’s ability to perform physically, whether professionally or recreationally, is hindered—and quality of life, as previously experienced, is changed. Hedonistic damages are used to compensate for that change.

Recovery (or compensation) is also available for future damages. Your clients can recover for both past damages and damages that can be reasonably expected to occur in the future (American Law Institute 1979; §10). Future damages include pain and suffering, mental distress, lost wages and future medical expenses.

When a court is determining this type of damage, only an approximation of the amount of future loss is required (Glannon 2000). However, in order to prove such damages and justify an award for future loss, medical expert testimony will usually be required to show that the injury suffered by the client will be long lasting or permanent. >>

It is quite common for injured clients to be reimbursed for their injuries by a third party, usually their own insurance company (i.e., under a health insurance policy). But any such reimbursement will not affect the size of the award granted to the client in a successful lawsuit (American Law Institute 1979; §920A). The doctrine governing this is known as the collateral source rule (Glannon 2000). The various sources of third-party reimbursements include employment benefits (e.g., workers’ compensation), insurance, social security disability, welfare, charity and even financial help from family and friends. In fact, the reasonable value of those services generously provided by a client’s family or friends can also be recovered in the damages awarded by the court.

The rationale that allows for these reimbursements is that most insurance plans require that their clients reimburse the insurance company after getting the official damage award from the court (Glannon 2000). Hence, there would be no double recovery for the client.

Note that the client is responsible for having taken any reasonable actions necessary to have avoided injury; furthermore, the client cannot recover for any harm that could have been avoided if adequate medical care had been sought in a timely manner. That means that if a client refuses to seek medical attention, then any

The concepts associated with damages in contract law are quite complex compared to the concepts that arise in negligence/tort law. Under contract law, compensatory damages are further subdivided into three categories:

Often, if a client is unable to sue via negligence, a separate lawsuit can be filed alleging breach of contract. A breach of contract occurs when one party fails to live up to his or her end of the bargain. If a person is found liable for a breach of contract, the court will mandate that the breaching party (i.e., you, the trainer) pay the nonbreaching party (i.e., your client) compensatory damages.

What you will have to pay will be money or otherwise related monetary value owed under the contract. The primary purpose of compensatory damages is to place the client in the same economic position that he or
she would have been had the contract not been breached (Connaughton & Eickhoff-Shemek 2003). This form of compensation is collectively known as expectation damages (Emanuel 1999).

Compensation has the additional purpose of ensuring that the client’s financial position remain as good as it was before the contract was made (Emanuel 1999). Any costs incurred as a result of the contract (and its litigation) are awarded. This subset of compensation is known as reliance damages.

Finally, compensation is designed to prevent unjust enrichment should you breach your contract with a client. For any benefit you receive under a contract, an equal amount is paid to your client (Emanuel 1999). This subset of compensation is collectively known as restitution damages. The concept behind this is that the breaching party should not be permitted to benefit or experience a windfall from unlawful or bad-faith conduct.

Need Fitness Insurance? Choose from the Following Fitness Insurance Categories:

Personal Trainer Insurance

Yoga Insurance

Pilates Insurance

Group Fitness Instructor Insurance

Health Club Insurance

Other categories: martial arts insurance, dance instructor insurance, life coach insurance and Reiki practitioner insurance