FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Friendly’s litigation history
What Friendly’s 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 (litigation) & 4 (bankruptcy) at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 2
- 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
- 2025
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
1. Franchisor vs. J&B Restaurant Partners et al (Index No. 650080/2023): Settled July 2023 after franchise terminations and declaratory judgment action regarding lease assignments and collateral. 2. SEC v. Sherif Mityas (12-cv-1281): CEO consented to Final Judgment in 2012 for securities violation (Rule 10b-5).
Item 3 (litigation) · 2 matters disclosed
Litigation cases
The franchisor
Concluded (1)
Friendly’s Restaurants Franchising Co, LLC and Friendly’s Restaurants Co, LLC v. WM Capital Partners 59, LLC; J&B Restaurant Partners of NJ, LLC; J&B Restaurant Partners of Long Island, LLC; J&B Restaurant Partners of Long Island II, LLC; J&B Restaurant Partners of Massapequa Park, LLC and J&B Resta
settledBrought by the franchisor · filed 2023-01-05 · Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York · 650080/2023
“Friendly’s Restaurants Franchising Co, LLC and Friendly’s Restaurants Co, LLC v. WM Capital Partners 59, LLC; J&B Restaurant Partners of NJ, LLC;”Page 10 of the 2025 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “On or about July 13, 2023, the parties entered into a settlement agreement and mutual release resolving all claims whereby Friendly’s purchased the outstanding debt of the J&B Restaurant Partner defendants from their lender and lender released all liens on the restaurant assets and collateral and”
Officers and directors (individuals, not the company)
Concluded (1)
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sherif Mityas
judgmentGovernment or regulatory action · Sherif Mityas (our Chief Executive Officer) · filed 2012 · US District Court-Eastern District of New York · 12-cv-1281 (CBA)
“… US District Court-Eastern District of New York, ECF Case: 12- cv-1281 (CBA).”Page 10 of the 2025 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.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Litigation history including asset/lease disputes with franchisees and SEC judgment against CEO raises governance concerns
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?