Category Archives: Blogs

We are pleased to share a significant victory for our client, MDR United LLC, and an important federal court decision for the franchise community addressing contractual releases, franchise assignments, choice-of-law provisions, contractual limitations periods, and the enforceability of agreements between sophisticated parties. On July 28, 2026, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Southern District of Florida issued a 27-page decision in Labento, LLC v. MDR United, LLC and

If your franchise counsel handles your FDD renewal every year and little else, you’re only getting half the protection your franchise agreement was built to provide. A franchise agreement is not a document you file away after registration. It’s a living set of obligations that only has value if it’s periodically enforced. Franchisors who treat enforcement as an afterthought — something to worry about only when a dispute becomes impossible

Franchise relationship disputes are common, often arising over money, compliance with systems and standards, concerns with franchisor support, or supplier designations. Let us offer a legal opinion on strategies to address and resolve disputes, to enforce obligations under the franchise agreement, and to bring about system compliance based on our 30 years of experience in doing just that.

For those franchisors with a December 31st fiscal year end, the April 30th Franchise Disclosure Document (“FDD”) update deadline (March 31st in Hawaii and April 20th in California) is certainly creeping up pretty quick. And this year, in addition to the range of usual considerations when updating the FDD, franchisors planning to register in the so-called “registration states” must contend with two major new developments in franchise regulations. First, the

FisherZucker, LLC By FisherZucker; U.S. News & World Report; Best Lawyers; PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 5, 2020 — Today, U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers publicly announced the Eleventh Edition of the “Best Law Firms” rankings. FisherZucker, LLC is proud to be named a Philadelphia Metropolitan Tier 1 firm in “Best Law Firms” of 2021 for their work in Franchise Law. Every year, U.S. News & World Report and Best

Need some more background? Check out Income Wreck-ognition: Part I and Part II. and Part III: Survey Maximizing Income Recognition with Your Outside Auditors The adoption of the new income recognition standards will affect most franchisors as they pursue their 2019 audit in time to issue their FDD in 2020. The effort to maximize income recognition is not an all-or-nothing game. Based on our experience, auditors are all over the

I wanted to give you an update on what’s going on in California related to AB-5. The background appears below.  As things stand now, AB-5 goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020, but IFA believes that a franchise exemption is possible. Based on the criticism of several industry sectors, when the California Legislature reconvenes in January 2020, the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Gonzalez has stated that she will introduce a follow-up to AB-5 to address

Need some more background? Check out Income Wreck-ognition: Part I and Part II. As we have worked with some of our 200 brands, we have noticed a pattern among auditors – the pattern being that there is no pattern. The more parochial firms categorically reject the concept of recognizing any income upfront and require the entire initial fee to be amortized. Others seem to go through the appropriate exercise: the

Did you miss Part I? Check it out here. Given the robust activity around my recent post on Income Wreck-ognition, I think I have your attention. As a refresher, the upcoming changes in auditing practices require a franchisor to amortize the initial franchise fee over the term of the franchise agreement – unless it relates to any “distinct” performance obligations. The effect could be to reduce your income recognition by

We are just around the corner from the deadline to comply with the new income recognition rules, which will likely “loot” much of the capitalization of an emerging franchisor.  The restatement will likely have the effect of driving many rapidly growing franchisors’ capital into the negative — jeopardizing (un-impounded) state registrations and impairing franchisee diligence. Here’s what up tarting with the 2019 audit (for privately held companies), all initial fees which