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Structural engineers, vibration experts and business owners will be called to give evidence in the case of a Perth hospital warring with a local gym over what it claims is “excessive noise” from weights and music interrupting its delicate medical procedures.
The Perth Day Hospital initially filed a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of WA against Fitness Cartel last month, alleging the gym had caused excessive noise since it moved into the building in November the year prior.
The hospital, which had been subject to a $16 million fit-out, was granted an urgent injunction against the gym ahead of the hospital’s planned opening on June 2, limiting the gym’s activities between 6.30am and 8pm to low music and prohibiting the use of weights including medicine balls and kettlebells.
The gym originally argued against the injunction, saying it had lost $15,000 due to the restrictions and had lost the confidence of its members. However, the judge upheld the restrictions.
It was the first of a four-day trial in the WA Supreme Court on Monday, with Perth Day Hospital set to argue in court the injunction should continue to avoid the risk of cancelled surgeries and delaying patient treatment if the noise persists.
Lawyer for Perth Day Hospital Martin Bennett said the worst case of recorded weight-dropping from the gym exceeded noise regulations by between five and 15 decibels.
“The vibrations were as such that cardboard office files fell from the desk, an electronic clock fixture fell from the ceiling … it’s not a case of undue sensitivity,” he said.
Bennett said the hospital had initially started work on fitting out the building in 2024, and as a result, the whole strata building benefited from updated electricity and water work and the installation of a lift.
Bennett argued the gym’s use of the building was not “ordinary and common”, and there were no other gyms in similar positions anywhere around the Scarborough Beach Road location.
He said he had requested diary entries recording gym goers to examine before the trial, but the defence had refused.
Defence lawyer Simon Davis said the documents would take some time to get together.
“[A witness for the gym] will provide evidence about the numbers per day in the week before the injunction,” he said.
“She’s taken a two-week period for the last two weeks of June and has created a daily graph, and it shows people coming in before the injunction, and people coming in after the injunction. To make a fairly obvious point about the injunction.”
He said the restrictions had not been logical.
“Once the injunction was in they couldn’t have the weights available,” Davis said.
“Yet, the hospital was closed. There’s been a lot of time the gym hasn’t been able to open fully to their customers to use while the hospital hasn’t been operating.”
It was a characterisation previously disputed by the hospital, who said the gym had been up and running for the period it claimed to have closed.
The trial continues.
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