Maryland Athletic Club Lawsuit Settled

Danny Jacobs of the Maryland Daily Record wrote an article in the Maryland Lawyer section yesterday about lawsuit by a health club member filed against the Maryland Athletic Club & Wellness Center (commonly known as the MAC), a Baltimore area mega health club, by a woman who claimed her locker was broken into while she was working out.   The lawsuit sought $30,000 for the Maryland Athletic Club’s alleged negligence.

I cannot imagine what the case settled for but I have to think that the MAC overpaid on the claim.  First, and I’m only going off the article, the alleged negligence appears to be she notified Maryland Athletic Club employees that her stuff had been stolen from her locker and requested the MAC check the parking lot.  The complaint alleges no one did.  But assuming this was so (how would the member know?), how does that amount to negligence on part of the MAC.  Exactly what was the negligence that caused her injury?  What should the Maryland Athletic Club have done to avoid the theft? 

 Moreover, the damages were changing her locks and the “hassle” as her lawyer describes it.   The lawsuit also alleged that several weeks later, two men were seen outside defendant’s daughter’s house.  “These men were attempting to find [Plaintiff’s] car in order to steal it, and to ‘case’ [Plaintiff’s daughter’s] house for purposes of breaking into it,” the complaint stated.

Are you kidding me?  They see two strange guys outside of their daughter’s house and then allege in a legal document that this is related to this theft at the Maryland Athletic Club? 

My guess – and it is just my guess – is that the Maryland Athletic Club knew it had no responsibility but wanted to do the right thing and offered to pay for the member’s out-of-pocket damages.  But she wanted more because she wanted to bundle every bad thing that ever happened to her and put it on the doorstep off this theft.  As the case got closer to trial, the Maryland Athletic Club wanted the case to go away and the Plaintiff began to realize the offer was far better than she was going to do at trial.  So a settlement was reached.