Selfspot, Inc. v. The Butler County Family YMCA

In Selfspot, Inc. v. The Butler County Family YMCA, (No. 2006 C.D. 2005, Pa. Cmwlth. slip opinion, filed July 18, 2006), a panel of this Court in an unpublished memorandum opinion again reversed and remanded because the trial court's ruling that the YMCA engaged in other charitable activities on its premises, such as child care and tutoring programs and established its charitable nature and its conclusion that a fitness center assisted in charter purposes "was no different from the conclusion in Dynamic Sports Fitness that the fitness activity was 'necessarily intertwined' with the YMCA's other charitable purposes." Selfspot, at 10. The Court concluded that there were many issues of material fact relating to the precise nature and operation of the proposed fitness center. The Selfspot decision provided some direction to the trial court on the issues to be considered on remand. It "set the threshold standard for unfair competition as whether a YMCA is primarily providing health club type services to paying customers." Selfspot, at 8. The Court directed the trial court to: (1) consider the "precise nature and operation of the fitness center,"; (2) determine whether "significant numbers" of members use the YMCA primarily as a fitness center; (3) determine whether the YMCA provides "substantial amounts of financial assistance or essentially caters to paying customers." Selfspot, at 11.