FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Aaron's litigation history
What Aaron's 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
- 20
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $2.2M
- 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 20 actions (1 pending, 19 concluded). Matters include a 2025 securities/fiduciary-duty suit over the 2024 going-private transaction; an ADA accessibility class action; multiple PC Rental Agent privacy suits (Byrd, Winslow, Price, Peterson); a TCPA class action (Grogan, $2.175M settlement); franchisee disputes (Kaco, MKW); and numerous FTC and state AG investigations/consent orders (FTC store-swap and privacy CIDs, Texas AVC, California AG $25M restitution, Pennsylvania AVCs, Washington no-poach AOD). Aaron's appeared as both plaintiff and defendant.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Extensive litigation history including FTC consent orders, data security breaches, customer privacy violations, and ongoing securities class action creates legal/reputational risk
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?