Planet Fitness’ Transgender-Friendly Policy to Be Challenged in Michigan Supreme Court

Michigan Court of Appeals asserted that a single encounter with a clothed, biological male in a women’s locker room cannot “constitute distress . . . so severe that no reasonable man could be expected to endure it.”
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Planet Fitness’ Transgender-Friendly Policy to Be Challenged in Michigan Supreme Court

A ruling in favor of corporate Planet Fitness and its Midland, Michigan, franchisee by the State of Michigan Court of Appeals is being appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court by plaintiff Yvette Cormier, who claims her privacy and well-being were violated after she saw a person who she believed was a man in the women’s locker room.A Michigan woman who has been attempting to sue Planet Fitness for its transgender-friendly locker room policy since 2015 has now filed her claims with the Michigan Supreme Court.

After her failed appeal last month, Yvette Cormier filed her suit with the state’s highest court on July 11, according to ABC 12.

Related: Planet Fitness Transgender Lawsuit Dismissed, Plaintiff Plans Appeal

The State of Michigan Court of Appeals on June 1 ruled in favor of corporate Planet Fitness, Newington, New Hampshire, and its franchisee in Midland, Michigan, in a case in which Yvette Cormier claimed her privacy and well-being were violated in February 2015 after she saw a person who she believed was a man in the women’s locker room of the gym. The person was in fact a transgender woman named Carlotta Sklodowska, ABC 12 reported.

Cormier’s original lawsuit was dismissed in 2015 when Judge Michael J. Beale of the 42nd Circuit Court of the County of Midland ruled the plaintiff was unable to prove her claims. The claims included invasion of privacy, breach of membership contract, violation of Michigan Consumer Protection Act, violation of Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Cormier then appealed that ruling to the State of Michigan Court of Appeals. Last month’s unanimous ruling by that state appeals court said that a single encounter with a clothed, biological male in a women’s locker room “does not constitute distress . . . so severe that no reasonable man could be expected to endure it.” Furthermore, the court ruled that Planet Fitness Midland was justified in terminating Cormier’s membership in March 2015.

Planet Fitness representatives have maintained that their open locker room policy is part of the company’s broader “no-judgment” campaign.

Court dates have not yet been scheduled for the case.