24-Sep-16 – After waiting a year for a broken elevator at LA Fitness in Streeterville to be fixed, allowing her access to the health club’s swimming pool, a disabled River North resident has filed a complaint in United States District Court.

Kristina Lebedeva filed a complaint on September 20, alleging LA Fitness is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, as Lebedeva, who uses a wheelchair, says she cannot get to the locker room on the second floor.

A graduate student at DePaul University, Lebedeva says she joined LA Fitness in 2010 specifically to swim there. Her doctor recommended swimming to combat the pain and degenerative effects of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. She swam regularly from November 2012 until this summer, when the elevator broke. Despite repeated complaints, the elevator was not repaired but in January 2016, a friend of Lebedeva’s was told it would be fixed “in a few weeks.”

In April, when the elevator still was not working, Lebedeva says LA Fitness told her they were getting repair bids and that while the elevator was not in service, her membership fees would be refunded. However, by July, she says, the elevator was not fixed, nor were her fees refunded.

“I’ve waited for more than a year for the elevator to be repaired,” says Lebedeva (left). “I have a right to equal access. I shouldn’t have to wait that long in order to access the same locker room and showers used by other members of LA Fitness.”

In August, according to the complaint, LA Fitness modified a one-person bathroom next to the pool so that Lebedeva could change in there, but she still could not get to the locker room and shower.