Spin Rage

This wacky story has been playing out in the New York tabloids for months, but now there is finally a verdict – and of course, since this is NYC, now comes the lawsuit.

A Manhattan hedge fund manager is suing Equinox health club and the stockbroker who slammed him off a stationary bike and into a wall for whooping it up during a spin class. Stuart Sugarman’s lawsuit contends he was a victim of Christopher Carter’s “spin rage” when he was tossed into a wall following an August 2007 confrontation at an upper East Side Equinox.

A Manhattan jury last week acquitted Carter of assaulting Sugarman, who set off the stockbroker by grunting loudly and hollering “You go, girl!” to psyche himself up for the spin class. The suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, says Sugarman suffered permanent injuries, humiliation, damage to his reputation and mental and physical anguish as a result of the spin class showdown. It seeks an unspecified amount of money for his alleged back and neck injuries.

According to previous reports, Sugarman yelped, yelled, and hooted continuously during his spin classes until another gym member blew his top and knocked Sugarman off his bike. Sugarman finished the class, but later claimed neck and back injuries.