FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2026 filing
Applebee's (t. J.) Neighborhoo litigation history
What Applebee's (t. J.) Neighborhoo disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2026 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
- 7
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $14.3M
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- Disclosed
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2026
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
2 pending cases: (1) Apple Central KC LLC v. Applebee's Franchisor LLC adversary bankruptcy proceeding re breach of contract, ongoing; (2) Applebee's Franchisor LLC v. Mountain Apple LLC re unpaid royalties, administratively closed/stayed pending franchisee bankruptcy. 5 concluded actions: Applebee's v. William J. Georgas et al. (breach of contract re unauthorized restaurant closures) settled Dec 2025 for $4,000,000 paid TO Applebee's; Vampire Family Brands trademark suit settled for $320,000; Himelda Mendez ADA/Braille class action settled for $7,000; Heartland Consumer Products trademark dispute settled via product-exclusivity agreement; Applebee's v. RMH Franchise Corporation (nonpayment of royalties/fees, RMH bankruptcy) settled for $14,255,326 paid TO Applebee's; Candice Watkins consumer-fraud class action dismissed on appeal (Third Circuit affirmed 2014).
Disclosed in the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 4: bankruptcy
No bankruptcy of the franchisor itself disclosed under Item 4; disclosure relates to CFO Vance Chang's prior role as CFO of YogaWorks, Inc., which filed Chapter 11 in Delaware on Oct 14, 2020 due to COVID-19 pressures (he left YogaWorks in Nov 2019, before the filing).
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?