Yes, LA Fitness members were charged after cancellation—and the practice was so widespread that the Federal Trade Commission filed a federal lawsuit in August 2025 alleging the gym chain deliberately made cancellation nearly impossible to trap consumers in ongoing billing. The FTC claims Fitness International, LLC and Fitness & Sports Clubs, LLC (which operates LA Fitness across 600+ locations serving 3.7 million members) engineered cancellation barriers specifically designed to keep consumers paying even after they requested to quit. Members who managed to cancel found themselves rebilled under new account numbers; those who attempted to stop charges through their banks had payments renewed automatically, forcing them through the cancellation maze again.
The case, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, remains active litigation as of June 2026 with no settlement agreement yet announced. The FTC alleges the defendants charged consumers “hundreds of millions of dollars” in unwanted recurring fees through these practices, violating the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA). If successful, this litigation could result in a settlement requiring the gym operators to refund members and change their cancellation procedures, but anyone considering a claim needs to understand the current status of the case and why prior LA Fitness settlements no longer apply.
Table of Contents
- How Did LA Fitness Make Gym Cancellation Difficult?
- What Charges Did Members Receive After Cancellation?
- Which Members Are Potentially Affected?
- What Is the Current Status of the Case?
- What Should Members Do Right Now?
- How Does This Case Compare to Other Gym Cancellation Lawsuits?
- What Federal Laws Are Being Violated?
How Did LA Fitness Make Gym Cancellation Difficult?
The FTC’s complaint details specific mechanisms LA fitness used to obstruct cancellation. The gym restricted in-person cancellations to certain times when only one authorized manager was present, forcing members to either find that specific person or make multiple trips back to the facility. If the manager wasn’t available, no cancellation was possible—the policy created an intentional bottleneck. For members who tried to cancel by mail, LA Fitness required them to log into the website using their email address, key tag number, and the first five digits of their payment account, then print a cancellation form and mail it via certified or registered mail at the consumer’s own expense and effort.
The company prohibited managers from accepting email cancellations and made phone cancellation completely unavailable. What makes this pattern significant is that LA Fitness did not offer an equivalent obstacle course for *joining* the gym. New members could sign up in minutes using a mobile app or website, but cancelling required navigating procedures that were deliberately time-consuming, expensive, and often impossible depending on the member’s schedule. The FTC found that across different company communications—membership agreements, website pages, and sign-up processes—the cancellation instructions contradicted each other, making it appear that no single correct method existed.
What Charges Did Members Receive After Cancellation?
Members reported being billed for monthly membership dues after they had successfully cancelled, with some charges continuing for months or even years after their requested cancellation date. The gym converted frozen memberships (which members believed were paused) directly into active billing without consent, essentially reactivating inactive accounts and charging again. Annual fees appeared on credit cards after cancellation confirmation.
Perhaps most egregiously, when consumers attempted to stop the charges by contacting their credit card company or bank and disputing the charges, LA Fitness would rebill them using new account numbers created under the member’s information, circumventing the payment block and forcing the consumer through the entire cancellation process again if they wanted to truly stop the charges. One critical limitation in pursuing these charges is that proving you actually cancelled becomes your responsibility. Without written confirmation—ideally a certified mail receipt and a dated acknowledgment from LA Fitness—you may face resistance when disputing charges. The FTC’s allegations suggest this is no accident: by making cancellation so difficult and offering no clear confirmation, LA Fitness made it harder for consumers to prove they ever cancelled at all, leaving members in disputes with credit card companies who might side with the merchant without clear evidence of a cancellation request.
Which Members Are Potentially Affected?
The case filed in August 2025 potentially applies to anyone who was a member of LA Fitness or any brand operated by Fitness International, LLC or Fitness & Sports Clubs, LLC after that date. The defendants operate not only LA Fitness but also Esporta Fitness, City Sports Club, and Club Studio, meaning the alleged practices could have affected members across multiple brand names and multiple states. With 3.7 million members nationwide across 600+ locations, the potential class size is enormous—but not every member who had the opportunity to cancel would have been harmed. Only members who actually cancelled and then were charged again, or members who attempted to cancel and were prevented from doing so, would qualify for relief.
It’s important to note that prior LA Fitness settlements from 2011 and 2017, which covered earlier cancellation abuses, are now closed. Those settlements applied to members who cancelled between 2006 and 2013, with claim deadlines that have long expired. Claim administrators for those old settlements no longer accept applications. Anyone who may have qualified for those closed settlements but failed to file cannot use the current FTC lawsuit to make up that missed deadline—the two litigation matters are separate, and the statute of limitations for the older claims has passed.
What Is the Current Status of the Case?
As of June 2026, the FTC v. Fitness International, LLC case (docket number 8:25-cv-01841) remains in active litigation, meaning no settlement has been reached, no settlement administrator has been named, and no claim deadline exists yet. The defendants have the opportunity to settle or face a trial, but neither outcome has occurred.
Settlement negotiations in large consumer class actions typically take many months or even years after the initial complaint, especially when the alleged damages are as substantial as the “hundreds of millions” the FTC claims here. A settlement could come in 2026, 2027, or later. This distinction matters because it means two things: first, there is no way to file a claim yet, since there is no settlement administrator or claims process; second, the case could theoretically conclude in the defendants’ favor, although the FTC’s detailed allegations and the political environment around consumer protection make a settlement or plaintiff victory more probable. Members who believe they were harmed should document their own cancellation attempts, save any billing statements showing charges after cancellation, and monitor official FTC sources for settlement announcements rather than third-party websites claiming to administer this case.
What Should Members Do Right Now?
Members who believe they were charged after cancelling should take steps to preserve evidence of their harm. Save credit card statements, screenshots of cancelled memberships, any written communication from LA Fitness confirming cancellation, emails to the gym requesting cancellation, and records of disputes filed with your credit card company. Do not rely on memory or promises that “the settlement will cover it”—detailed documentation will be required when a claims process is eventually established, whether that’s months or years from now. Banks and credit card companies often limit how far back they will investigate disputes, so acting promptly to document your charges now prevents the information from disappearing.
A warning: scams have surrounded high-profile class action lawsuits. Avoid any website or company claiming to pre-register you for the LA Fitness settlement, charge you a fee to help you file a claim, or offer to sell you a “guide” to the settlement. The actual claims process, when it exists, will be free and administered by an official court-appointed settlement administrator. The FTC and the federal court will provide the legitimate claim instructions when the time comes.
How Does This Case Compare to Other Gym Cancellation Lawsuits?
Other major fitness chains have faced similar allegations. Planet Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, and other gym operators have settled FTC cases or consumer lawsuits over difficult cancellation practices, unauthorized charges, and rebilling.
What distinguishes the LA Fitness case is the scale—3.7 million members and the FTC’s specific allegations that the company used rebilling under new account numbers to overcome consumer payment blocks. Most of these settlements resulted in refunds of tens of millions of dollars and required the defendants to offer cancellation through multiple methods (online, phone, email, in person) with clear confirmation. The LA Fitness settlement, when it comes, will likely impose similar requirements.
What Federal Laws Are Being Violated?
The FTC charged violations of two federal statutes: the FTC Act’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive practices, and ROSCA (the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act), which specifically regulates negative option billing and requires clear, conspicuous cancellation mechanisms. ROSCA was passed in 2010 specifically because of problems like those alleged against LA Fitness—companies making money from difficult cancellations and unauthorized rebilling.
The law requires that any business offering a service with automatic renewal must provide a simple, straightforward way to cancel at any time, often with the same ease as signing up. By requiring certified mail, multiple visits to the gym, and login credentials, LA Fitness allegedly violated the basic requirement that cancellation must be as easy as enrollment.
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