By William Lee | Fitness trainers Dina Castillo and Frank Nunez were riding a wave after they were asked to create a customized fitness program just for employees of Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Inc. in summer 2008.

The married owners of Unicus Fitness were even asked to appear on a program on Winfrey’s XM Radio channel hosted by the talk show queen’s former trainer.

But everything came to a halt after the trainers sent e-mails to other
clients announcing their March 2009 appearance on the program,
according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Soon after, Harpo officials
told the couple that the mass e-mail violated a confidentiality
agreement with the talk show’s parent company, which terminated their O
Fitness Challenge program.

Attorneys for the couple filed a
lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court after, they say, Harpo refused to
pay them for the months of training work they had done for more than
300 Harpo employees.

The suit claims that after the deal was
terminated and the couple requested payment, Harpo attorneys claimed
that Unicus provided their services voluntarily and that there was no
formal business arrangement.

The suit alleges breach of contract
against Harpo and seeks unspecified damages. Calls to Harpo legal
counsel William Becker weren’t returned Wednesday night.