Always Best Care Senior Services: Litigation & Risk
Senior Care · FDD Items 3, 4 & 5
Moderate: Review
5 cases disclosed in FDD Items 3 and 4.
FDD Items 3 & 4
Litigation Metrics
- Cases disclosed
- 5
- Total from FDD Items 3 and 4
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor or officer bankruptcy
- Verdict score
- 81 / 100
- FranchiseVerdict composite · higher is better
- Rating
- A
- A / B / C / D / F verdict grade
7(a) FOIA data · FY2020–present
SBA Loan Performance
Aggregated from public SBA 7(a) loan disclosures. Charge-off rate is the share of loans that were charged off or settled for less than the full balance.
- Total 7(a) loans
- 45
- Government-backed loans issued
- Charge-off rate
- 6.2%
- vs 16% franchise average
- 5-yr charge-off rate
- 0.0%
- Defaults
- 1 loans
- Loans charged off or defaulted
- Total loan volume
- $12.8M
- Avg loan size
- $284K
- Participating lenders
- 25
FDD Items 5, 6 & 17: What You Give Up
Contract Risk Indicators
- Mandatory arbitration
- Not required
- You retain the right to sue in court
- Jury trial waiver
- Not waived
- Non-compete
- 2 yrs
- Post-termination restriction on similar businesses
- Franchisor can compete
- Yes
- Franchisor can open competing locations in or near your territory
- Right of first refusal
- Yes
- Franchisor can match any purchase offer when you try to sell
- Governing law
- California
- State whose law governs disputes. Relevant if you're not based there
Extracted from FDD Item 3
Litigation Detail
Three 2016-2017 AAA arbitrations by former Area Representatives (MelDon Corp $85,000, CPP of DuPage $125,000, ESA Wealth Management $153,500 settlements); 2012 FTC consent order re: assisted living placement representations; 2010 Maryland Securities Commissioner consent order re: unregistered franchise offering ($35,000 assessment); two 2025 franchisor-initiated actions against a terminated franchisee (Paulus) for past-due amounts/trade secret theft.
What drove the 81/100 verdict
Risk Score Breakdown
- 01MEDNo Item 19 financial disclosure (Avg Revenue and Net Income not disclosed) prevents ROI validation on $89,725-$145,900 investment
- 02HIGHMultiple litigation incidents over 14 years including recent 2024 franchisor lawsuit for past-due amounts and 2012 FTC consent order, suggesting compliance and collection issues
- 03MED10.4% YoY unit growth is modest for senior care sector; 275 units is relatively small system with limited scale economies
- 04MED6% royalty + minimum royalty structure creates fixed cost burden if revenue targets aren't met, especially without disclosed benchmarks
- 05HIGHProtected territory language vague—unclear if territorial exclusivity is truly enforced given litigation history and franchise compliance concerns
Severity inferred from FDD text. Not a regulatory or legal classification
Litigation data from FDD Items 3, 4, and 5. SBA data from public 7(a) FOIA records (FY2020–present). Not legal advice. Consult a franchise attorney before signing any franchise agreement.