Kickboxing Champ Wins $32M Equinox Discrimination Lawsuit
Table of Contents
Case Background
Equinox Holdings, Inc. hired Lajos "Lali" Hugyetz in April 2017 to work as a fitness trainer at their luxury gym in Los Angeles. The company actively recruited Hugyetz, a former five-time world champion and seven-time European champion kickboxer, leveraging his professional fighting fame to attract clients to their Sepulveda Boulevard facility. For several years, Hugyetz performed his duties without issue, training members and representing the club.
The situation changed in October 2021 when doctors diagnosed Hugyetz with a severe orthopedic condition in his hip, which included extensive arthritis. He provided Equinox with written medical restrictions stating that he could not stand continuously for more than one hour without taking a break. While these limitations did not prevent him from training clients, they conflicted with the club's requirement for "floor duty"—a marketing task that required trainers to stand on the gym floor for two-hour shifts. Despite receiving the medical documentation, supervisors repeatedly scheduled Hugyetz for these long shifts without the necessary breaks and threatened to fire him when he could not comply.
Concurrent with his own health struggles, Hugyetz faced a family crisis. His father passed away in December 2021, and his mother subsequently suffered from severe depression and required surgery for a tumor on her spine. In early 2022, Hugyetz requested and took leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to receive medical treatments for his hip and to care for his ailing mother. While he was on this protected leave, Equinox terminated his employment on February 23, 2022. The company later claimed he had violated attendance policies, but Hugyetz maintained that the termination was a direct result of his disability and his need for medical leave.
Cause
This legal battle arose from the wrongful termination of Lajos "Lali" Hugyetz, a former five-time world champion kickboxer and seven-time European champion. Hugyetz alleged that Equinox Holdings, Inc., a luxury fitness company, discriminated against him based on his physical disability and his association with his ailing mother. He claimed that the company failed to accommodate his orthopedic hip condition, refused to engage in a good-faith interactive process to find a solution, and ultimately retaliated against him by terminating his employment while he took protected medical leave.
Injury
As a direct result of the termination and the hostile work environment leading up to it, Hugyetz suffered significant economic and non-economic harm. He lost his steady income, employment benefits, and the career trajectory he had built at the premier training facility. Beyond financial loss, the Plaintiff endured severe emotional distress, humiliation, and mental anguish caused by the threats from his supervisors and the subsequent loss of his livelihood during a time of personal family crisis.
Damages Sought
The Plaintiff sought comprehensive damages to rectify the wrongs committed against him. This included compensation for past and future lost wages and benefits (economic damages). He also requested substantial non-economic damages to compensate for the emotional pain and suffering, humiliation, and anxiety he experienced. Furthermore, Hugyetz sought punitive damages, asserting that Equinox’s conduct was malicious, oppressive, and fraudulent, warranting a financial penalty designed to punish the corporation and deter similar future conduct. He also requested reimbursement for attorneys’ fees and legal costs.
Key Arguments and Proceedings
Legal Representation
Plaintiff(s): Lajos "Lali" Hugyetz
· Counsel for Plaintiff(s): Carney R. Shegerian | Anthony Nguyen | Bryan Kirsh
· Experts for Plaintiff(s): Sandra White | Anthony Reading
Defendant(s): Equinox Holdings, Inc.
· Counsel for Defendant(s): Vince M. Verde | Tiffany S. Woods | Po-En Terence Liao
Key Arguments or Remarks by Counsel
Allegations of Discrimination and Failure to Accommodate The Plaintiff’s legal team presented a narrative of a dedicated employee discarded due to his medical needs. They established that Equinox hired Hugyetz in April 2017, leveraging his fame as a kickboxing champion to attract clientele to their upscale Los Angeles facility. For years, he performed his duties without issue. However, the situation deteriorated in late 2021 after doctors diagnosed him with a severe orthopedic condition in his hip.
Counsel argued that Hugyetz provided Equinox with clear medical restrictions in October 2021, specifically stating he could not stand continuously for more than one hour without a break. Despite these documented limitations, his supervisors, including Sadie Huang, repeatedly pressured him to perform "floor duty" a marketing task unrelated to his essential training functions for two-hour blocks without sitting. The Plaintiff’s attorneys highlighted that although Hugyetz could still perform his primary job of training clients, the company refused to adjust his schedule or allow him brief rest periods. Instead of offering help, Huang threatened to fire him.
Retaliation and Wrongful Termination A central pillar of the Plaintiff's case involved the timing and reasons for his dismissal. In early 2022, Hugyetz requested leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). He needed this time to treat his own hip condition and to care for his elderly mother, who suffered from severe depression and a spinal tumor following the death of her husband.
The Plaintiff's counsel argued that Equinox seized this opportunity to rid themselves of a disabled employee. On February 23, 2022, while Hugyetz utilized this protected leave, Equinox terminated his employment. The attorneys contended that the company’s justification for the firing was pretextual—a false excuse designed to cover up their illegal discriminatory motives. They asserted that the company viewed his disability and his need to care for his mother as liabilities rather than human realities requiring compassion and legal compliance.
The Defense of Policy Violation
In response, the defense team for Equinox Holdings, Inc. vehemently denied all allegations of wrongdoing. They argued that their actions were legitimate business decisions unrelated to Hugyetz's medical condition or his family situation. The defense contended that Hugyetz had violated the company's "Attendance and Punctuality" policy, and they attempted to frame the termination as a disciplinary consequence of these violations.
Equinox’s counsel insisted that the company maintained strict policies against discrimination and retaliation. They argued that they had no intention of causing Hugyetz harm and that the decision-makers did not act with malice or oppression. They further claimed that even if Hugyetz had not taken leave or requested accommodation, he would have faced the same employment consequences due to his alleged policy infractions. The defense also posited that Hugyetz failed to mitigate his damages and that any emotional distress he suffered stemmed from pre-existing conditions or other life factors, such as the loss of his father, rather than Equinox's conduct.
Rejection of the "Mixed Motive" Defense Throughout the trial, the defense attempted to prove that they had a "mixed motive" for the termination meaning that even if discriminatory reasons existed, they also had valid reasons (the attendance policy) that would have led to the same result. The Plaintiff's counsel countered this by demonstrating that the attendance issues were not the driving force behind the termination. They argued that the timeline of events—threats of firing commencing only after the disability disclosure, followed by termination during protected leave pointed squarely to discrimination and retaliation as the substantial motivating factors.
Jury Verdict
Liability and Factual Findings On November 13, 2025, the jury returned a decisive Special Verdict in favor of Lajos "Lali" Hugyetz, rejecting the key defenses mounted by Equinox. The jurors found that Hugyetz indeed had a disability and that Equinox knew about it. They determined that the Plaintiff was willing to participate in an interactive process to find a solution, but Equinox failed to engage in that process in good faith. Furthermore, the jury concluded that Equinox failed to provide reasonable accommodation for Hugyetz’s disability, even though he could have performed his essential job duties with such accommodation.
Regarding the discrimination claims, the jury found that Hugyetz’s disability and his association with his disabled mother were substantial motivating reasons for Equinox’s decision to subject him to adverse employment actions. Crucially, the jury explicitly rejected the defense's argument regarding the attendance policy. When asked if the violation of the "Attendance and Punctuality" policy was a substantial motivating reason for the adverse actions, the jury answered "No." This finding dismantled the defense's claim that they would have fired him anyway for policy violations.
The jury also upheld the retaliation claim. They found that Hugyetz’s request for accommodation and his taking of disability leave were substantial motivating reasons for the company’s adverse actions against him.
Compensatory Damages Award Having established liability, the jury awarded substantial compensatory damages to make the Plaintiff whole. They calculated the financial toll of the wrongful termination, awarding $272,000.00 for past economic loss (wages lost from the time of firing to the trial) and $500,000.00 for future economic loss (anticipated future earnings lost due to career damage).
The jury also recognized the profound emotional toll the ordeal took on Hugyetz. They awarded $3,825,000.00 for past non-economic loss, covering the emotional distress and humiliation suffered up to the point of trial. Additionally, they awarded $3,750,000.00 for future non-economic loss, acknowledging that the emotional scars would persist. The total compensatory damages amounted to $8,347,000.00.
Findings on Malice and Punitive Damages The proceedings moved to a second phase after the jury made a critical finding in the Special Verdict. They determined that Mary Lane was a "managing agent" of Equinox Holdings, Inc., and that Hugyetz had proved by clear and convincing evidence that an officer, director, or managing agent of the Defendant acted with, ratified, or authorized malice, oppression, or fraud.
This finding opened the door for punitive damages, which are intended to punish the Defendant. On November 18, 2025, the jury returned a verdict assessing punitive damages against Equinox Holdings, Inc. in the amount of $24,000,000.00.
Final Judgment On December 10, 2025, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County entered judgment in accordance with the jury's special verdict. The Court ordered Equinox Holdings, Inc. to pay Lajos "Lali" Hugyetz the sum of $8,347,000.00 in compensatory damages and $24,000,000.00 in punitive damages, resulting in a total monetary judgment of $32,347,000.00. The Court also ruled that the Plaintiff was entitled to recover costs and attorneys' fees, with the specific amounts to be determined in subsequent proceedings. The Court found in favor of the defense on two minor claims regarding unpaid wages and personnel files, but these did not diminish the massive victory for the Plaintiff on the core civil rights claims.
Court documents are available upon request at jurimatic@exlitem.com