FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
1-800-Flowers litigation history
What 1-800-Flowers disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 3 lists the material legal actions a franchisor must report; Item 4 covers bankruptcy. This is the franchisor's own disclosure, not a court record, and not legal advice.
Items 3 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 2
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $275K
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2025
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
Item 3 discloses (1) a June 2014 Maryland Consent Order/Determination (File No. 2014-0102) for Maryland Franchise Law violations resolved by a $5,000 civil penalty, and (2) a federal lawsuit (E.D.N.Y. Case No. 2:16-cv-2638) brought by Arizona, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale franchisee plaintiffs alleging breach of contract, unfair competition and franchise-law violations; Arizona Plaintiffs settled Jan 2022 for $150,000 and Ft. Lauderdale Plaintiffs settled Mar 2022 for $275,000. The FDD states "Other than these 2 actions, no litigation is required to be disclosed."
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Multiple litigation events (2014 consent order, 2016 breach of contract lawsuit settled 2022) — pattern of regulatory and franchisee disputes
- No going concern qualification disclosed but severe contraction suggests underlying business model stress
The verdict grade is FranchiseVerdict's editorial assessment across SBA loan performance, unit growth, revenue and disclosure signals. It is not investment advice.
Before you weigh a lawsuit
How to read Item 3
A franchisor must disclose pending actions and any material civil action involving the franchise relationship, plus convictions or civil judgments for fraud, unfair or deceptive practices, or franchise-law violations, going back ten years. A case the franchisor brought against a franchisee counts too. Item 3 does not include every dispute: settled claims below the materiality line and matters resolved in private arbitration can be absent.
Questions worth asking current and former franchisees, using the contact list in Item 20:
- Were you, or anyone you know in the system, party to a dispute with the franchisor?
- Was it resolved by settlement, arbitration or a court, and on what terms?
- Has the number of disputes gone up or down since you signed?