FORTMAN LAW Wins $1.5 Million for CURVES Franchisees
Jonathan Fortman and Fortman Law Win $1.5 Million judgement for CURVES Franchisees.
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) Congratulations to the Curves franchisee plaintiffs of Anne Armstrong et. al. v. Curves International, Inc. who fought a 2-year battle against their exploitive franchisor – and prevailed.
Congratulations to the single-attorney franchise-giant-killer Team Fortman on yet another hard-fought victory on behalf of franchise owners.
In addition to Attorney Jonathan Fortman, Team Fortman also consists of paralegal Kelly Spann and Teresa Kirchner.
This is the second big win for Fortman Law on behalf of women’s fitness franchise owners, after having scored a multi-million dollar judgment on behalf of Contours Express franchisees.
Fortman Battled Curves for 2 Years on Behalf of its Neglected Franchisees
The battle against Curves’ formidable legal team was long and hard-fought.
Attorney Fortman, of Florissant, MO-based Fortman Law, initially filed the action in Missouri State Court on June 1, 2015.
The state petition alleged 165 counts against three defendents – Curves International, Inc., Curves International Holdings, Inc., and Howard Gary Heavin – by 111 named plaintiffs who were owners or part owners of eighty-three different Curves franchises.
Defendants removed the action to the Federal district Court for the Eastern district of Missouri on June 25, 2015.
The Missouri District court later granted a transfer to the Western District of Texas where it was adjudicated.
All claims against Defendant Howard Gary Heavin and Curves International Holdings, Inc. were dismissed with prejudice June 20, 2016.
Some of the plaintiffs claims were dismissed because they fell outside the Texas 4-year statute of limitations.
In the end, Curves franchise owners and the Fortman Law team prevailed.
On April 24, 2017, a Texas federal jury found that the national fitness club franchisor Curves International Inc. breached its contract with 52 franchises by failing to provide them with adequate advertising and support services, awarding the franchisees north of $1.5 million in total damages.
In the Monday verdict, the jury found that Curves breached its contract with 52 of its franchises on or after June 1, 2011.
The jury awarded franchisees between $0 and $143,928, with an average award of $31,013 per franchise, for the breach, according to the verdict.
Read the Jury’s verdict form here: (PDF)
Anne Armstrong et. al. v. Curves International, Inc. Jury Verdict & Damage Award
Curves posts on UnhappyFranchisee.Com provides and index of links to our stories and discussions of the Curves franchise program from the franchisee’s point-of-view.
Unhappy Franchisee has been following Curves International and the issues facing Curves franchise owners since 2008. Prior to that we published Curves news and hosted discussions on FranchisePick.com (now archived at EveryJoe.com).
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TAGS: Curves, Curves International, Curves franchise, Curves lawsuit, Curves class action lawsuit, Curves failures, Curves complaints, North Castle Partners, Jon Fortman, Attorney Jonathan Fortman, Fortman Law, Gary Heavin, Diane Heavin, Fitness franchise, Sean Kelly, Unhappy Franchisee