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Woman Sues Upscale Gym, Says Exercise Band Left Her Partially Blind

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A New Jersey woman has filed a lawsuit against an upscale Manhattan gym, after she said she was smacked in the face with an exercise band and left partially blind.

Video is all over YouTube showing accidents with rubber the exercise bands, CBS2 reported.

Elizabeth Lapp, 35, claimed she has been left partially blind after her gym band slipped out of her hand and hit her in the eyes.

Lapp has filed a lawsuit against the Club 7 gym, in the Silver Towers apartment building on West 42nd Street. The suit also named resistance band manufacturer Black Mountain Products, according to a New York Daily News report.

An attorney told the newspaper that Lapp was exercising with the stretch band for the first time when she was injured, and was told to sit down, put the band beneath her foot, and pull it toward her when it snapped up and hit her.

The attorney, Urs Furrer, told the newspaper that Lapp received no written or verbal instructions on how to use the band properly.

Attorney Ronald Katter, of the New York County Lawyers' Association, said there may be merit to the lawsuit.

"You go to the gym to get in shape. You don't go to the gym to lose your eyesight or have an injury like that," Katter said. "From that perspective, was there something that was done negligently?"

The gym declined to comment on the lawsuit.

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