This Woman Says SoulCycle Shamed Her Into Injuring Herself—So She’s Suing Them
Embarrassed for being called out in front of colleagues, she kept pedaling until she fell off the cycle.
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A California woman is suing SoulCycle for negligence after her instructor allegedly told her to keep pedaling, which led to her falling off of the exercise bike and injuring her ankle.
According to court documents acquired by PEOPLE, Carmen Farias was taking a class at a SoulCycle in Beverly Hills with her coworkers in June 2014 when she felt her legs begin to weaken. She then tried to stop pedaling, but the bike’s wheels continued to spin.
Farias then alleges that instructor Angela Davis mocked her for slowing down, barking to her and the rest of the class that “we don’t take breaks.”
According to PEOPLE, the court documents then states that, “The shame caused Carmen to momentarily attempt to pedal faster.” Claiming that she was “embarrassed” for getting “called out” in front of her bosses and coworkers, Carmen tried to speed back up.
However, Farias allegedly became fatigued and disoriented after speeding up, causing her to fall off the bike completely. As the bike’s pedals kept spinning, Farias says she repeatedly dislocated her left ankle, which was still clipped into the pedal.
“By the time the pedals did stop, Carmen had been catastrophically injured,” her attorney alleges in the lawsuit.
Farias claims that neither her instructor nor other SoulCycle staff taught her how to properly to use the SoulCycle bikes. In addition, Farias says that she never signed a waiver for the class, and the employees at SoulCycle allegedly never checked or asked her for it.