A franchisor's investment in brand standards, protection and control often comes at a cost when a consumer believing or claiming to believe the franchisor and franchisee are the same, seeks to hold a franchisor liable for a franchisee's conduct.

A New Jersey federal court has ruled that hotel franchisor Hilton Worldwide must answer for a guest's claim that a franchised Hilton hotel failed to stop over $80,000 in unauthorized charges by a disgruntled ex-employee. The ex-employee extended a 5-night stay on the corporate account by several months. The court found Hilton could be vicariously liable for the franchisee's oversight, based on control it exercised, and reserved, over the franchisee.

A staffing agency ("eTeam") authorized its employee to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in San Francisco. The hotel had authorization from eTeam's headquarters to charge eTeam's corporate credit account for the employee's five-night stay. After five days passed, the employee remained at the hotel, charging eTeam's account, although she no longer worked for the company. The ex-employee's stay resulted in over $80,000 of unauthorized charges. eTeam sought the money back from Hilton even though it was Hilton's franchisee that ran the hotel and charged eTeam.

The court looked beyond the franchise agreement's disclaimer of an agency relationship and focused on the parties' course of conduct - finding that Hilton had control over the franchisee's personnel decisions, training of employees and day-to-day operations like room cleaning and food service.

Hilton's contractual right to control was also significant. The franchise agreement incorporated Hilton's operations manual. The manual included pre-approval for management hires, and even dictated china, glassware, silverware, and the exact type and number of coffee packets to place in each room. The court found that Hilton had direct control over reservation processing and payment at the franchisee's location. Finding Hilton's control over the franchisee's operations extended far beyond what is necessary to protect the Hilton brand, the court denied Hilton's request to be dismissed on summary judgment.

When a court is asked to find an agency relationship, a franchisor cannot rely on a disclaimer in the franchise agreement. The existence of an agency relationship is fact-specific.

Franchisors should consider this when reserving strong rights of control and incorporating operation manuals by reference into franchise agreements. The franchisor's appearance of unnecessary control over personnel, employee training, or franchisee policies can turn the franchisor-franchisee arrangement into a principal-agency relationship subjecting the franchisor to liability.

See: eTeam, Inc. v. Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., D. N.J., 15,988