A New Jersey court has revived a class action lawsuit against SoulCycle, ruling that the company's liability waiver is too vague to protect it from negligence claims. The lawsuit stems from a 2017 incident where a participant was injured during a class.
Consumers Affected: Participants who signed SoulCycle's liability waiver and may have been injured due to the company's negligence.
Reason for Lawsuit: The lawsuit alleges negligence in maintaining equipment, providing proper instruction, and preserving evidence related to the incident.
Court: The case was originally dismissed by a lower court but has been revived by the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.
A New Jersey court has revived a class action lawsuit against SoulCycle, ruling that a liability waiver signed by a former participant was insufficient to protect the popular indoor cycling fitness company from negligence claims.
Akansha Singh, a New Jersey resident, suffered injuries in a September 2017 SoulCycle class at the Short Hills studio. Singh fell off her stationary bike after encountering difficulties unclipping her shoes. Despite the instructor's advice to remove her foot from the shoe, Singh was unable to safely unclip her right shoe and lost her balance.
She subsequently filed a lawsuit against SoulCycle, Inc. and SoulCycle Short Hills, LLC, alleging negligence in maintaining equipment and providing proper instruction. Singh's lawsuit also alleges that SoulCycle failed to preserve crucial evidence, including the bike involved in the incident and surveillance footage. The company's handling of this evidence may further impact the case.
The initial ruling in the case favored SoulCycle. A lower court granted the company’s motion for summary judgment, determining that waivers Singh had signed in 2013 and 2017 protected the company from liability. These waivers purported to release SoulCycle from responsibility for any injuries incurred during classes.
However, Singh appealed the decision, arguing that the waivers were ambiguous and did not explicitly waive her right to sue for negligence. The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, agreed.
In a recent opinion, the appellate court emphasized the strict scrutiny applied to waivers that attempt to shield parties from liability for future wrongdoing. Such waivers, the court stated, must be clear and unambiguous about the rights being relinquished.
The court found that the SoulCycle waivers, while addressing inherent risks of indoor cycling, failed to explicitly mention negligence. Importantly, the court determined that negligence is not an inherent risk of the activity and therefore cannot be assumed to be waived without specific language.
Additionally, the court criticized the ambiguity of the waiver's language, stating that it did not clearly define the circumstances under which Singh was giving up her right to sue.
Based on these findings, the appellate court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case for further proceedings. This means Singh's lawsuit against SoulCycle can now move forward.
The case is not an isolated incident for SoulCycle, which has faced multiple legal challenges in recent years. A separate class action lawsuit filed in May 2024 accuses the company of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending unsolicited text messages to customers.
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