The Arkansas Supreme court held that the state franchise laws do not apply to Mary Kay distributorships. Isbell was terminated as a Mary Kay distributor for selling cosmetics from a storefront location in violation of her agreement with Mary Kay. She claimed that she should be afforded the protections of the state franchise laws, which require certain notice before termination of a franchisee. The court held that the distributorship was not subject to the franchise laws because the parties did not contemplate the sale of products from a fixed location. In fact, the point of the distributorship was that it allowed sales from any location, as long as it was the distributor or the clients home.

The full case and case summary are also available online at: http://www.mlmlegal.com/legal-cases/MaryKay_v_Isbell.php