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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Just Checking to See if You’re ‘a Real Person’

(CN) - A Minnesota gym withdrew hundreds of dollars from the bank account of a woman with the last name "Tester" because "it did not believe she was a real person," she says in Federal Court.

When Kathleen Tester joined Fitness 19 MN 142 in Shorewood, she authorized the gym to withdraw regular monthly membership dues from her bank account of approximately $6 per month, according to the complaint.

But "on or around July 15th, 2013, defendant Fitness made two unauthorized withdrawals from plaintiffs' bank account in the amounts of $165.00 and $652.50, a total of $817.50," Tester claims.

When Tester contacted Fitness 19 about the unauthorized withdrawals, a representative allegedly told her the gym had "intentionally withdrawn the moneys from her account because it did not believe that she was a real person."

Tester says she immediately canceled her contract with the gym, thereby ending its right to make any withdrawals from her bank account.

Yet the withdrawals continued. "On August 20, 2013, defendant Fitness again made an unauthorized withdrawal from plaintiff's bank account in the amount of $165.00. As a result of this unauthorized withdrawal, plaintiff suffered $105 in overdraft fees," the complaint claims.

Tester seeks damages, plus a fine of $1,000, for violation of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and conversion.

She is represented by Thomas Lyons Jr. with the Consumer Justice Center in Vadnais Heights, Minn.

Neither Lyons nor the gym responded to a request for comment.

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