Planet Fitness Transgender Locker Room Case Can Go to Trial, Michigan Supreme Court Rules

The Michigan Supreme Court has said it will not intervene in a once-dismissed lawsuit over Planet Fitness' locker room policies, according to an April 2 ruling. The ruling means the case may now proceed to trial.

Former Planet Fitness member Yvette Cormier has repeatedly attempted to appeal her case stemming from a February 2015 incident in which she claimed her privacy and well-being were endangered after she encountered a person who she thought was a man in the women's locker room of her Midland, Michigan, club. The person in fact identified as a transgender woman, and Planet Fitness allows its guests to use the locker room that matches their identity, as part of its “no-judgment" policy.

Cormier's membership was terminated in March 2015 after she repeatedly warned other women of the club's policy against management's wishes.

Cormier’s initial lawsuit was dismissed, but she appealed. In June 2017, the State of Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed Cormier's claims that Planet Fitness' transgender-inclusive locker room policies violated her membership rights.

Cormier then appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, whose April 2018 ruling decided the appeals court erred in not considering Cormier's complaint that her rights under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act (MCPA) had been violated.

The appeals court has since said Cormier's case can go to trial, and the Michigan Supreme Court confirmed this decision on April 2, 2019.

Cormier claims Planet Fitness failed to reveal its unwritten locker room policy and is seeking $25,000 in damages over her terminated membership as well as Planet Fitness' alleged violations of the MCPA, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (protecting Michigan residents from discrimination) and breach of contract.

A Planet Fitness spokesperson has reiterated that the company “does not comment on litigation as a matter of policy.”

Cormier is represented by Kallman Legal Group, Lansing, Michigan.