
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995                   TAG: 9503300077
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LAWSUIT ACCUSES HEALTH CLUB, CREDIT AGENCY OF DECEPTION

Hundreds of former New Fitness club members in Roanoke could benefit from a class-action lawsuit filed against the club Wednesday in U.S. District Court, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in the names of two former health club members, charges that the two Roanoke New Fitness clubs and a credit agency used deceptive practices and fraud to collect on unpaid memberships.

Exercisers with standard two-year memberships at New Fitness who stopped making payments or tried to cancel were taken to court in Chesapeake by a credit agency, the lawsuit claims.

By using Chesapeake courts, the Tidewater Finance Co. made it hard for Roanoke members to defend themselves. The claims in Chesapeake court also were invalid, the suit charges, because the employee of the collection agency misrepresented herself and actually had no standing to sue the members.

Because the action against the members was not brought in the judicial district where they lived or where they signed their contracts, the credit agency's actions also violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the suit charges. New Fitness stopped using Chesapeake courts for Roanoke cases last year.

If a judge certifies the case as a class action, anyone who signed a contract with New Fitness and was taken to court in Chesapeake would qualify to share in any settlement or award. The suit says there are several hundred people who would be eligible.

A spokesman for New Fitness said Wednesday he had no comment on the suit and hung up the telephone. The vice president of Tidewater Finance Co. said his company used ``normal collection practices'' and had done nothing wrong.

Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley filed the lawsuit in the name of two former New Fitness members, Tina Ward and Robin Emmons. Both women had their wages garnisheed after the company got a judgment against them and suffered ``anxiety, embarrassment, inconvenience and credit impairment,'' according to the suit. It says hundreds of other Roanoke residents also had their wages garnisheed.

The women are asking the court to award damages to all Roanoke club members affected by the Chesapeake suits and to declare that the Chesapeake judgments are invalid.

by CNB