A federal district court in California granted a franchisor’s motion to transfer venue of claims brought by non-California franchisees to Texas. The ruling was based on a forum selection clause in the franchise agreements....more
A federal district court in Nevada partly denied a franchisor’s summary judgment motion on claims brought by a franchisee.
IJL Midwest entered into several franchise agreements with a franchisor of a dating and...more
A federal district court denied a motion for preliminary injunction brought by pizza franchisor, Breadeaux’s Pisa, LLC, seeking to stop a former franchisee from operating a competing pizza business.
The franchise agreement...more
A Delaware court found a yoga studio franchisee was entitled to an order requiring the franchisor to buy all of the franchisee’s yoga studios in six states. The court held the franchisor breached its contractual obligation...more
After obtaining a temporary restraining order, Freedom Franchise Systems (“Freedom”), the franchisor of a boat-club business, was denied a preliminary injunction to stop a former franchisee prospect from using claimed trade...more
A deaf customer brought an Americans with Disability Act (“ADA”) suit against Yum! Brands, Inc. (“Yum!”), parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit brands, and a franchisee. The lawsuit claimed failure to...more
Zubair Kazi operated a KFC franchise in Pueblo, Colorado since the 1980s. In 2019, KFC approved another individual to open a KFC restaurant in Pueblo. Kazi sued, claiming KFC breached its implied duty of good faith and fair...more
Patel v. 7-Eleven, a case in Massachusetts, has been closely watched since the ABC test took hold of franchise relationships in employee misclassification cases across the country.
A putative class of 7-Eleven franchisees...more
3/31/2022
/ 7-Eleven ,
ABC Test ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Franchisee ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
FTC Franchise Rule ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Misclassification ,
Preemption ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Right to Control
A California federal court denied Mountain Mike’s Pizza a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) against one of its franchisees who did not renew its franchise agreement and opened a new restaurant under a different name.
In...more
A federal court in Virginia denied tax franchisor, Liberty Tax’s, motion to dismiss complaints by two of its area developers (“ADs”). The ADs claimed Liberty Tax breached their contract for wrongfully terminating, failing to...more
2/28/2022
/ Breach of Contract ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Drafting ,
Contract Renewal ,
Contract Termination ,
Contract Terms ,
Development Agreements ,
Failure To Pay ,
Franchise Agreements ,
Franchisee ,
Franchisors ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Royalties ,
Wrongful Termination
A federal appellate court declined to enforce a choice-of-forum clause finding enforcement would conflict with Michigan’s Franchise Investment Law (“MFIL”).
Lakeside Surfaces, Inc., a maker of stone countertops, sued...more
A Texas appeals court affirmed a lower court judgment in favor of Pizza Hut and its franchisee for claims of an alleged sexual assault by a delivery driver. The appellate court held Pizza Hut was not liable for the...more
An Indiana federal court granted hamburger and milkshake franchisor, Steak n Shake, a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) against a franchisee to enforce post-termination obligations under franchise and area development...more
A Georgia district court declined to dismiss a breach of contract case by a hotel franchisor against a franchisee. The court rejected the franchisee’s argument that the franchisor waived its rights under the parties’ license...more
A franchisee sued its franchisor, OsteoStrong Franchising, LLC, in Texas federal court after OsteoStrong terminated the franchise and development agreements. Termination occurred after the franchisee failed to timely develop...more
A hotel franchisee brought a class action lawsuit in Louisiana federal court on behalf of Louisiana franchisees. The franchisor moved to transfer the action to Georgia, based on the mandatory forum selection clause in the...more
Past and present franchisees of commercial cleaning service franchisor, Jani-King, brought claims for violation of Connecticut minimum wage and anti-kickback laws, and unjust enrichment. They claimed Jani-King misclassified...more
11/1/2021
/ Appeals ,
Dismissals ,
Franchise Agreements ,
Franchisee ,
Franchises ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Service Agreements ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unjust Enrichment ,
Wage and Hour
In 2017, four former franchisees brought a class action in California, claiming 7-Eleven owed them unreimbursed expenses. The ex-franchisees claimed they were employees, not independent contractors of 7-Eleven. The court...more
A San Francisco franchisee of the It’s Just Lunch matchmaking system received an offer to buy the franchised business for about $146,000 with the final price to be determined. Under the offer, the actual purchase price would...more
An area developer entered into three agreements with a pizza franchisor and developed 50 franchises in Texas. The franchisor, Pizza Inn, Inc., tried to terminate all three contracts, though each had a twenty-year initial term...more
A federal court in New Hampshire found a multi-unit operator of five Planet Fitness gyms plausibly alleged the franchisor interfered with its business relationships and denied Planet Fitness’ motion for judgment on the...more
A federal court in Louisiana granted a preliminary injunction against a former franchisee of Liberty Tax Service for breaching post-termination covenants under a franchise agreement.
Liberty Tax entered into franchise...more
A federal district court denied KFC’s defensive summary judgment motion, enabling its franchisee to go to trial on claims against KFC for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by opening a competing...more
A Louisiana appellate court affirmed a trial court’s finding that there was a signed franchise agreement between the parties even though the franchisor could not produce the signed original.
Brooke and Michael Hyde decided...more
A franchisee sued real estate franchisor Century 21 for a declaration whether the franchisee could end its franchise agreement early despite a provision that deleted the franchisee’s early termination right. Noting the...more