Breached Contract

I foolishly signed a gym memership contract, after about two months into the contract I became ill. I called the gym and tried to cancel and even offer to pay an early termination fee. I was told I could not cancel and there was no termination fee. Now three years later they are suing me...what can I do.

First of all you need to carefully review the contract you signed. Look for a cancellation policy or early termination policy. Some memberships contain provisions regarding medical conditions etc.

If they are suing you in small claims court you will have to represent yourself unless your state allows attoneys. If it is in a court other than small claims you may want to enlist the services of an attorney to save yourself a judgment etc.

Traci,

You are in a bad situation here if they have filed a lawsuit. Fighting it or paying it off is probably better then getting a judgment against you. Even if they have trouble collecting the money from you (which they probably will, even if you have assets because the process is difficult and the amount of money is small) the judgment will stay on your credit report for 10 years and will prevent you from doing most things financially.

If, however, they have just sent you to a collection agency instead of filing an actual lawsuit, you can just dispute the claim and try to fight it through the credit bureaus.

Alternatively, you can try to call up the party that sent you the letter and try to settle it.

Regardless, jurisprudence is right. Start with carefully reading the contract you signed… And in the future, avoid signing contracts without carefully reading the fine print first! It will undoubtedly save you a lot of headache in the future.

Good luck!