Suburban fitness center, trainer face suit over woman's injury on step equipment

A woman is suing a Lake County fitness center and trainer over claims she injured herself while using exercise equipment.

Maria Papadakis filed suit May 22 in Cook County Circuit Court against Fitness 19 IL 116 LLC and F-19 Holdings LLC, both doing business as Fitness 19, and Chad Drake.

According to the complaint, Papadakis was at Fitness 19 at 831 E. Belvidere Road in Grayslake on Nov. 29, 2012 for a one-on-one physical training session with Drake, an employee of the fitness center.

During the session, the plaintiff claims Draker instructed her to use a piece of exercise equipment known as a plyometric step. The suit states Papadakis slipped and fell to the floor while using the quipment, which resulted in severe injuries.

She accuses the defendants of failing to properly instruct her on how to use the  equipment, supervise her, secure the equipment and warn her about the risks associated with using the equipment.

Papadakis is seeking damages in excess of the jurisdictional limit and is represented by attorneys Glen J. Dunn Jr. and Joel T. Finch of Glen J. Dunn & Associates Ltd.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L005483.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Cook County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note that a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and it represents only one side of the story.