FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Critter Control litigation history
What Critter Control disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2025 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
- 3
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $215K
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2025
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
1) Galt Strategies LLC v. Critter Control et al. — breach of contract / trade secret / unfair competition; settled for $215,000 (Aug 2017). 2) Virginia Settlement Order — franchise registration violations; $23,500 penalty (Jan 2018). 3) SEC Settlement Order (Rollins/Northen) — accounting reserve manipulation; $8M civil penalty against Rollins (Apr 2022).
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Multiple litigation/settlements including trade secret misappropriation, state regulatory violations, and parent company SEC accounting order—suggests governance and compliance weaknesses
- Going Concern = False status not explicitly confirmed—ambiguous disclosure raises questions about franchisor financial stability
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?