FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2026 filing
Jan-Pro Franchise Development litigation history
What Jan-Pro Franchise Development disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2026 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
- $30.0M
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2026
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
1 pending employee misclassification case in DC Superior Court (govt agency as plaintiff alleging joint employer). Prior cases include Roman/Vazquez federal class action (settled $30M, 2024), Massachusetts state court cases (settled 2019), and AAA arbitrations (settled 2019). JPI as defendant in all.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Systemic employee misclassification litigation across multiple states (CA, WA, DC, MA) suggests structural business model vulnerability, not isolated incidents
- Regional developer involvement in litigation indicates franchisor may lack direct control over unit operations and labor compliance
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?