Judge Janis Sammartino issued another crushing blow to the National Strength and Conditioning Associaton (NSCA) in their years-long dispute with CrossFit, Inc. On Wednesday in San Diego District Court, Judge Sammartino awarded CrossFit $3,997,868.66 for attorney fees and also granted their motion to terminate sanctions.

One big thing: There’s nothing good here for the NSCA, who at this point is facing serious financial trouble, but the court goes even further saying: “in twenty-five years on the bench, ‘[t]his is the first case that [the Court] ha[s] ever had that has gotten to this point…Having carefully considered the record, ‘[t]he severity and frequency of defendant[’s] bad faith misconduct is as egregious as anything this [C]ourt has ever seen or read in any of the cases.’”

The judge also concluded that the NSCA’s actions constituted “extensive perjury,” and called them “inherently untrustworthy.”

Judge Sammartino: The Court also shares CrossFit’s concerns that, “[g]iven the extensive perjury to date, the evidence supplied by the NSCA will also be inherently untrustworthy.” Neither CrossFit nor the Court nor the public can trust the veracity of further discovery collected from the NSCA. The Court therefore concludes that CrossFit has established that it will suffer prejudice absent termination.

Also worth noting: CrossFit is further vindicated in their claim that the NSCA and the Devor study attempted to deceive the public about the safety of CrossFit.

“It is taken as established that the NSCA’s unfair competition and false advertising—including its false statements in the Devor Article…have deceived and continue to deceive the public and consumers regarding the safety and effectiveness of CrossFit training.”

Greg Glassman on the ruling: “The NSCA is in wholesale abdication of any presumed charter of the scientific advancement of human performance or safeguarding the public. Their response to CF popularity was to fabricate and falsify research data and then fall back to perjury and spoliation of evidence when their scientific misconduct was detailed by our judge.”

The bottom line: CrossFit, Inc. isn’t the only winner here, but the entire CrossFit training industry from affiliates owners to coaches and athletes. By obtaining such an overwhelmingly one-sided ruling it’s likely CrossFit will be left alone for some time and those attempting to raise claims of its safety will think hard before publishing false information.

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