FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2024 filing
5 Star Nutrition litigation history
What 5 Star Nutrition disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2024 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 (litigation) & 4 (bankruptcy) at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 3
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest settlement, franchisor's own cases
- None stated
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2024
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
Three matters disclosed: (1) Cranor v. 5 Star Nutrition, LLC (W.D. Tex.) TCPA putative class action, settled confidentially and dismissed with prejudice July 2021; (2) Environmental Research Center, Inc. v. Brick & Mortar Distributing/5 Star Nutrition (Cal. Super. Ct., Alameda) Proposition 65 action, settled via Consent Judgment entered March 2019, $100,000 paid plus warning/testing obligations; (3) United States v. Defyned Brands a/k/a 5 Star Nutrition, LLC (W.D. Tex.) FDA misbranding criminal case against parent/affiliate, resolved by Dec 2023 plea agreement with guilty plea to three misdemeanors and $4.5 million penalty paid over 90 monthly installments.
Item 3 (litigation) · 3 matters disclosed
Litigation cases
Parent, affiliates, master franchisor and subfranchisor
Concluded (3)
Lucas Cranor v. 5 Star Nutrition, LLC
settledBrought by a third party · 5 Star Nutrition, LLC (affiliate) · filed 2019-10-09 · U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas · 1:19-cv-00908-LY
“… (Western District of Texas, Case No. 1:19-cv-00908- LY). On October 9, 2019, Lucas Cranor, a 5 Star Nutrition customer, filed a putative class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of”Page 12 of the 2024 FDD, Item 3
Environmental Research Center, Inc. v. Brick & Mortar Distributing, LLC; 5 Star Nutrition LLC; and Does 1-100
judgment5 Star Nutrition LLC (affiliate) · filed 2018-11-13 · Superior Court of the State of California, County of Alameda · RG 18928347
“… (Superior Court of the State of California County of Alameda, Case No. RG 18928347).”Page 12 of the 2024 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “Brick & Mortar and 5 Star Nutrition agreed to pay $100,000 and to provide a Proposition 65 warning for any covered product manufactured for sale in California, distributed into California, or sold in California which exposes a person to lead or cadmium above agreed-upon limits.” (page 13)
United States of America v. Defyned Brands a/k/a 5 Star Nutrition, LLC
concludedGovernment or regulatory action · Defyned Brands, LLC (our parent) and 5 Star Nutrition, LLC · U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division · 1:23-cr-213-DH
“… (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas – Austin Div., Case No. 1:23-cr-213-DH) The United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas, in Austin, and the U.S. Food”Page 13 of the 2024 FDD, Item 3
Item 3 lists the litigation the franchisor must disclose; a matter against a parent, an affiliate or a named officer is not a matter against the franchisor, and pending claims are allegations, not findings.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Multiple serious litigations including TCPA class action, Prop 65 product safety violations, and federal misdemeanor plea for misbranding dietary ingredients—core product integrity issues
- Federal criminal plea agreement (USA v. Defyned Brands) for misbranding suggests regulatory compliance failures affecting the supplement/nutrition category
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?