The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court’s dismissal of two claims brought by distributors against the medical-device manufacturer Zimmer Biomet. It also affirmed a jury verdict in favor of the distributors on their breach of contract claim under Indiana law. Hess v. Biomet, Inc., 105 F.4th 912 (7th Cir. 2024).

A federal court in Washington recently granted in part and denied in part a former distributor’s partial motion to dismiss claims for breach of a post-termination noncompete agreement, breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing, and civil conspiracy. HydroFLOW USA, LLC v. ECO Integrated Tech., Inc., 2024 WL 1049998 (W.D. Wash. Mar. 11, 2024).

A federal court in New Jersey recently entered a $357,917.22 default judgment in favor of a franchisor. Americinn Int'l, LLC v. Mataj12 Corp., 2022 WL 1773779 (D.N.J. June 1, 2022).

A federal court in New Jersey recently denied a hotel franchisor’s motion for summary judgment that sought damages due to a franchisee’s unapproved transfer of the hotel. Travelodge Hotels, Inc. v. Huber Hotels, 2022 WL 44634 (D.N.J. Jan. 5, 2022).

An appellate court in Texas recently affirmed an award of damages to a franchisor on its claims to recover unpaid amounts under a franchise agreement and sublease. Beach Street Foods, Inc. v. Grandy’s, LLC, 2022 WL 187988 (Tex. Ct. App. Jan. 20, 2022).

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently partially granted and partially denied a franchisor’s motion for summary judgment against its former franchisee. Wyndham Hotel Grp. Int’l, Inc., v. Silver Entm’t LLC, 2018 WL 1585945 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 28, 2018). Wyndham and its franchisee were parties to a franchise agreement for the operation of a hotel in Panama. After several years of operations, the hotel fell into financial difficulties and the franchisee became delinquent on contractually required fees, installments on a promissory note ...

A federal court in Indiana recently granted a franchisee’s motion for summary judgment on the franchisor’s underreporting claim. Noble Roman’s, Inc. v. Hattenhauer Distrib. Co., 2018 WL 1566812 (S.D. Ind. Mar. 30, 2018). At issue in the case were two gas stations and convenience stores owned by Hattenhauer that contained Noble Roman’s pizza franchises. Each location was required to pay a royalty fee on its gross sales. Noble Roman’s alleged that Hattenhauer breached its franchise agreement by underreporting those sales by more than 20% and failing to pay the ...

Following a bench trial, a federal court in Wisconsin last month awarded lost profits for the breach of an exclusive distributorship contract. Sanchelima Int’l, Inc. v. Walker Stainless Equip. Co., 2018 WL 1401195 (W.D. Wis. Mar. 19, 2018). Defendant Walker manufactures dairy silos, and plaintiff Sanchelima was Walker’s exclusive distributor of dairy silos in 13 Latin American countries, including Mexico. Sanchelima alleged that Walker breached its distribution agreement by making five direct sales (and attempting a sixth) to Mexico, and sued Walker for profits lost on ...