Two Illinois Federal Courts Deny Class Certification in Anti-Poaching Class Actions Against Franchisors -

Two federal courts in Illinois have rejected motions to certify classes of employees who worked in franchised McDonald’s and Jimmy John’s restaurants. These employees claimed that they suffered antitrust injury attributable to anti-poaching provisions formerly contained in the franchise agreements for those systems. Deslandes v. McDonald’s USA, LLC, 2021 WL 3187668 (N.D. Ill. July 28, 2021); Conrad v. Jimmy John’s Franchise, LLC, 2021 WL 3268339 (S.D. Ill. July 30, 2021). The decisions, which follow years of discovery, represent the likely end to attempts to claim system-wide monetary damages for the periods in which these provisions were in effect.