FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2024 filing
Coffee Beanery litigation history
What Coffee Beanery 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 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 2
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $3K
- As stated in Item 3
- 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
Administrative proceeding before the Illinois Attorney General (2007-2008, $2,500 fine); Administrative proceeding before the Maryland Securities Commissioner (2005-2006, Consent Order requiring rescission offers).
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Material litigation history: 2007 Illinois AG investigation into unlicensed brokers and disclosure violations, plus 2006 Maryland Securities Commissioner consent order for registration and antifraud violations—indicates past compliance and sales practice failures
- 4% royalty is low (suggests weak franchisor revenue model), combined with no going concern statement and financial opacity raises sustainability questions
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?