In an interesting decision in a case brought against a franchisor and its subfranchisor, the Washington Court of Appeals ruled last week that Washington’s franchise disclosure law does not require a subfranchisor to register its offering documents if the franchisor itself has already registered those same documents. Something Sweet, LLC v. Nick-N-Willy’s Franchise Co., 2010 Wash. App. LEXIS 1135 (Wash App. June 1, 2010). While the Washington Franchise Investment Protection Act does apply to disclosure documents registered by a subfranchisor, the court held that the registration can be done by the franchisor when it is the ultimate party to the franchise being offered. Summary judgment for the defendants was affirmed.
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The Franchise Memorandum is a collection of postings on summaries of recent legal developments of interest to franchisors brought to you by Lathrop GPM LLP.
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