FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2024 filing
Bar Louie litigation history
What Bar Louie 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
- 1
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest settlement, franchisor's own cases
- None stated
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- Disclosed · an officer
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2024
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
One case: BL Restaurant Franchises LLC v. 510 Park, Inc. et al. (N.D. Tex. 2018), dispute with Fortney family franchisees; dismissed and proceeded to AAA arbitration; settled with Fortneys dismissing all claims, turning over Columbus restaurant.
Item 3 (litigation) · 1 matter disclosed
Litigation cases
The franchisor and its predecessor
Concluded (1)
BL Restaurant Franchises LLC v. 510 Park, Inc. et al.; BL Restaurant Franchises v. Fortney Hospitality Group et al. (AAA)
settledBrought by the franchisor · BL Restaurant Franchises LLC (BLRF, our predecessor) · filed 2018-04-17 · U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas; American Arbitration Association · 3:18-cv-971-B; AAA 01-18-0003-9595
“BL Restaurant Franchises LLC v. 510 Park, Inc. et al., No. 3:18-cv-971-B (N.D. Tex., filed Apr. 17, 2018). This case involves a series of disputes with franchisee entities owned by members of the Fortney family, who operated two Bar Louie Restaurants in the Minneapolis area and one in Columbus, Ohio.”Page 9 of the 2024 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “The parties reached a settlement under which the Fortneys dismissed all of their claims against us and also agreed to turn over their Columbus restaurant to us; we then dismissed our action against the Fortneys.” (page 10)
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.
Disclosed in the 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 4: bankruptcy
Predecessor entities (BL Restaurants Holding LLC, BL Restaurant Operations LLC, BL Restaurant Franchises LLC, BL Hunt Valley LLC) filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 27, 2020 (Case No. 20-10156). Assets sold to BLH Acquisition Co. LLC on May 27, 2020. Also, CEO Brian K. Wright was CEO of Bertucci's Inc. when it filed Chapter 11 on April 15, 2018 (Case No. 1:18-bk-10898), dismissed January 14, 2020.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Recent litigation with Fortney family franchisees alleging breach of contract and franchise statute violations, resulting in forced location transfer to franchisor
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?