BGH judgment: fitness studios have to pay back contributions

If a fitness studio was closed due to corona, it has to pay its members back the contributions for this time. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice – and thus confirmed previous judgments.

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe has made a trend-setting decision for many people interested in sports: Fitness studios have to pay their customers back the monthly contributions, in which the studio was closed due to corona. Germany’s highest civil court ruled that the contract could not be extended instead because of “disruption to the business basis”.

BGH: The purpose of a fitness contract is regular sport

The reason given was that the purpose of a gym contract was regular physical activity. If the operator can no longer grant access, the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved. This owed service cannot be made up for due to the passage of time.

The studio also has no right to adapt the contract to the changed circumstances and to extend the term. The BGH justified this, among other things, with the fact that the legislator had already issued a special regulation to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, which is taking place here: According to this, organizers can temporarily issue vouchers, but not contract adjustments.

It was about this case from Lower Saxony

In the specific case, the customer of a fitness studio in Lower Saxony had concluded a two-year contract with the studio from December 2019. The monthly membership fee was 29.90 euros. However, between March 16 and June 4, 2020, the gym was closed due to the corona lockdown. In May, the customer then canceled the contract with effect from December 2021 – and demanded the membership fees for the closed three months back. However, the studio did not want to pay him back the money or issue a voucher. Instead, it offered a credit for the appropriate training time – i.e. a contract extension. But the plaintiff did not want that. In total, it was about 87 euros.

Two courts have come to this conclusion

The district court of Papenburg had agreed with the man and obliged the fitness studio to repay the contributions. However, the gym did not want to accept the decision and appealed. But the district court of Osnabrück also decided in favor of the man. Now the BGH confirmed the verdict from Osnabrück.

(Az. XII ZR 64/21)

With information from Gigi Deppe, ARD legal department