Posted on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 08:35 PM by
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A no-reliance and an integration clause will not shield the Cousins Subs franchisor from claims of intentional fraud, says a federal judge.

Franchisors customarily include integration clauses in their franchise agreements. That means that the franchisee may not introduce evidence of anything the franchisor said, other than what is written in the contract.

A "no reliance" clause is added to prevent franchisees from claiming that something not in the franchise agreement induced the purchase of the franchise.

Customarily the clauses work well in tandem to prevent the franchisee from later introducing any evidence of what the franchisor salespeople said.

A Wisconsin federal judge faced with a routine franchisor motion has seen things differently:

[E]xculpatory clauses are not  enforceable when the fraud is carried out intentionally or recklessly. .. According to [the franchisee's] version of the facts, Cousins has created a complex system of deceit designed to extract significant royalties even as franchise locations fail. If true, this complexity cannot be defended by a well-drafted contract. Ingenious wrongdoers cannot immunize their wrongdoing from the law with a single clause.

_________________________________________________________

Cousins Subs Systems v Better Subs Development Inc et al, ED Wisc., September 30, 2011

For franchisor: Jacob Miota Esq,, Michael Best Friedrich (Milwaukee), Fredric Cohen Esq,, Cheng Cohen (Chicago)

For franchisee: Stephen Kravit Esq., Kravit Hovell Krawczyk (Milwaukee)

AttachmentSize
Cousin Subs v. Better Subs OPN 30Sept2011.pdf147 KB
Cousins Subs v Better Subs COMPL 27Mar2009.pdf73.9 KB
Cousins Subs v Better Subs ANSWR 01Jun2009.pdf957.06 KB
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