## Facts

- Etelvina Jimenez, a Spanish-only speaker and reader, joined a 24 Hour Fitness club using an English-only membership agreement containing a broad preinjury liability release.
- The membership manager spoke and read only English and did not obtain translation assistance; he communicated mainly by gestures, showed pricing on a screen, and pointed to where Jimenez should sign.
- About two years later, Jimenez fell backward off a moving treadmill and suffered severe head injuries.
- Plaintiffs’ evidence indicated 24 Hour placed a leg exercise machine with an exposed steel foot about 3 feet 10 inches behind the treadmill.
- Manufacturer instructions required at least six feet of open space behind the treadmill; investigators found multiple treadmills with equipment placed within that safety zone.
- Plaintiffs sued for negligence and premises liability, alleging gross negligence in the gym’s equipment configuration; Jimenez’s husband asserted loss of consortium.
- The trial court granted 24 Hour’s summary judgment motion based on the release, and plaintiffs appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a preinjury health-club liability release can bar claims for gross negligence, and whether plaintiffs presented evidence creating a triable issue of gross negligence.
2. Whether the release was unenforceable because it was procured by fraud or misrepresentation where a non-English-speaking consumer allegedly was induced to sign without understanding the document’s character or essential terms.
3. Whether the release covered this injury as a reasonably foreseeable risk encompassed by its language.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the summary judgment and remanded.
- A liability release does not exculpate gross negligence, and plaintiffs presented evidence from which a reasonable trier of fact could find an extreme departure from ordinary care (including violation of treadmill safety-zone instructions and placement of equipment within that zone).
- Plaintiffs also raised triable factual questions that the release was procured by fraud or misrepresentation, given the language barrier, the absence of translation assistance, and conduct that could have mischaracterized the document as merely a payment/membership form.
- Because gross negligence and fraud/misrepresentation independently precluded summary judgment, the court did not need to resolve the foreseeability/scope argument to decide the appeal.

## Legal Principles

- In California, a preinjury exculpatory clause may release claims for ordinary negligence but generally cannot bar claims for gross negligence.
- Gross negligence is an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct, more than inadvertence or ordinary carelessness.
- On summary judgment, the moving defendant must show no triable issue of material fact and entitlement to judgment as a matter of law; credible evidence supporting gross negligence or fraud defeats summary judgment.
- A release may be unenforceable if induced by fraud in the execution or misrepresentation about the document’s character or essential terms, including through nonverbal conduct, particularly when the signer cannot read the contract language and reasonably relies on the other party’s explanation or conduct.

## Conclusion

The appellate court held that the health-club release could not support summary judgment because plaintiffs produced evidence permitting findings of gross negligence in the equipment layout and of fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining the release from a Spanish-only member, requiring the case to proceed on the merits.


Jimenez v. 24 Hour Fitness USA, Inc., 237 Cal. App. 4th 546 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015)