FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2024 filing
Camp Margaritaville® litigation history
What Camp Margaritaville® 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
1) Boss Investments Ltd. v. Margaritaville of Bahamas LLC et al. (trademark sub-license dispute, settled Dec 2020 with defendants paying 50% of future royalties). 2) Shultz/Koptieff Trusts v. Margaritaville Enterprises et al. (cottage owners fraud/tort claims, settled April 2023 mutual walk-away). 3) CA Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation v. Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts LLC (failure to file franchise exemption notices for 3 CA sales 2019-2020, consent order March 2020, $7,500 penalty).
Item 3 (litigation) · 3 matters disclosed
Litigation cases
Parent, affiliates, master franchisor and subfranchisor
Concluded (3)
Stephen W. and Catherine C. Shultz, as Co-Trustees, et al. v. Margaritaville Enterprises, LLC; John Cohlan; and James Wiseman
settledMargaritaville Enterprises, LLC (our parent) · filed 2020-03-13 · Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Osceola County, Florida · 2020 CA 00051 OC
“Stephen W. and Catherine C. Shultz, as Co-Trustees of the Stephen and Catherine Shultz Trust Dated January 9, 2006; Alesandra D. Shultz, as Trustee of the Alesandra D. Shultz Living Trust U/A/D April 12, 2018; and John D. Koptieff, and Wife, Susan C. Koptieff v. Margaritaville Enterprises, LLC;”Page 16 of the 2024 FDD, Item 3
The Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation v. Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts, LLC
concludedGovernment or regulatory action · Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts, LLC (affiliate) · filed 2020-03-07 · California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation
“… (Administrative Proceeding Before the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, State of California).”Page 16 of the 2024 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “pay an administrative penalty in the amount of $7,500 to the Department of”
Boss Investments Limited a/k/a Boss Investments Ltd. v. Margaritaville of Bahamas, LLC, Margaritaville Enterprises, LLC, Margaritaville Holdings LLC, and James Wiseman
settledMargaritaville Enterprises, LLC and Margaritaville Holdings LLC (our parents) · filed 2018-10-26 · Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County, Florida · 2018-Ca-013658
“… (Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, Case No. 2018-Ca-013658).”Page 15 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.
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?