The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently certified to the Massachusetts Supreme Court the question of whether franchisee plaintiffs in an ongoing case pass the threshold inquiry under the state’s three-prong employee...more
A federal court recently ruled that 7-Eleven franchise owners are not employees of the franchisor, the latest development in a long-running legal saga challenging their status as independent contractors. However, this...more
On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) determined that the Massachusetts independent contractor statute (G. L. c. 149, § 148B) applies within the franchisor-franchisee context and does not...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court just held that 7-Eleven franchisees may be employees of 7-Eleven under Massachusetts wage and hour law. The March 24 decision in Dhananjay Patel v. 7-Eleven, Inc. will have significant...more
A federal court in Michigan granted 7-Eleven’s motion for summary judgment, enforcing the franchisor’s right to terminate a franchisee with repeated defaults, even though each default had been cured. 7-Eleven’s franchise...more
A federal court in New Jersey denied a 7-Eleven franchisee’s motion for a temporary restraining order. The franchisee sought an order enjoining 7-Eleven from enforcing various franchise agreement provisions, including charges...more
A federal court in Michigan recently allowed well-known franchisor 7-Eleven to terminate a franchise relationship when the franchisee serially breached their franchise agreement. 7-Eleven’s procedures leading up to...more
A 7-Eleven franchisee of more than 40 years brought claims that the convenience store franchisor engaged in a region-wide scheme, dubbed “Operation Philadelphia,” to force older franchisees to terminate their franchise...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Earlier this month, a California federal court dismissed the misclassification claims of 7-Eleven franchisees on the pleadings, finding they did not and could not plead facts sufficient to show that they...more
Franchisors collect weekly or monthly "franchise fees." In many cases, fees are for particular services, such as marketing assistance or IT support. In franchising, the parties may be in any number of different states: for...more
The National Labor Relations Board continues the string of controversial moves in its unfair labor practice cases against McDonald’s. In December 2014, the NLRB’s General Counsel filed thirteen complaints naming the...more
When seeking preliminary injunctive relief to enforce a non-compete, the moving party is often focused on how obvious it is that the defendant breached the parties’ agreement. As 7-Eleven recently learned, however, even when...more
The recent criminal prosecution of several 7-Eleven franchisees, which arose out of a criminal alien employment investigation, as well as efforts by government agencies to treat franchisors and franchisees as joint employers...more
FRANCHISEE 101: Terminated Franchisee Can Pursue Fraudulent Disclosure Claims - In Solanki v. 7-Eleven, Inc., a U. S. District Court in New York ruled that a terminated 7-Eleven franchisee who decided to purchase a...more