FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2026 filing
Anytime Fitness litigation history
What Anytime Fitness disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 3 lists the material legal actions a franchisor must report; Item 4 covers bankruptcy. This is the franchisor's own disclosure, not a court record, and not legal advice.
Items 3 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 4
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $5K
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- Disclosed
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2026
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
4 disclosed cases, none directly against the U.S. franchisor entity. (1) AFI v. Sant Cugat Fitness/Reus Fitness (Spain, filed 2024) - injunction/damages for early termination, non-compete violation, member data misuse; franchisees counterclaimed re: support/marketing fund mismanagement; in mediation. (2) Canadas Fitness v. AFI (Spain, filed 2021) - former franchisee alleged breach of support obligations and untruthful disclosures, sought 1.1M EUR; dismissed after trial Nov 2023, plaintiff appealed Jan 2024. (3) AFI v. Health & Performance S.L. et al. (Spain, filed 2025) - injunction/damages for early termination and non-compete violation; defendant counterclaimed alleging supplier overcharging, seeking 40,000 EUR. (4) Illinois AG v. The Bar Method Franchising/Inc. (2009) - unregistered franchise sales; consent decree, $5,000 penalty. Also an NY AG investigation of The Bar Method Inc. (2009) resulting in Assurance of Discontinuance and $2,500 payment (counted as part of the historical Bar Method matters).
Disclosed in the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 4: bankruptcy
Thomas Leverton, CEO of parent companies Purpose Brands Holdings, LLC and Purpose Brands Intermediate, LLC, was previously CEO of CEC Entertainment, Inc. (Chuck E. Cheese) which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2020, approximately 4 months after Leverton left; plan of reorganization confirmed Dec 2020.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Litigation exposure: Spain franchisee breach-of-duty lawsuit on appeal + affiliate regulatory actions (Illinois/New York) indicate FDD disclosure and compliance vulnerabilities
The verdict grade is FranchiseVerdict's editorial assessment across SBA loan performance, unit growth, revenue and disclosure signals. It is not investment advice.
Before you weigh a lawsuit
How to read Item 3
A franchisor must disclose pending actions and any material civil action involving the franchise relationship, plus convictions or civil judgments for fraud, unfair or deceptive practices, or franchise-law violations, going back ten years. A case the franchisor brought against a franchisee counts too. Item 3 does not include every dispute: settled claims below the materiality line and matters resolved in private arbitration can be absent.
Questions worth asking current and former franchisees, using the contact list in Item 20:
- Were you, or anyone you know in the system, party to a dispute with the franchisor?
- Was it resolved by settlement, arbitration or a court, and on what terms?
- Has the number of disputes gone up or down since you signed?