FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2023 filing
Le Pain Quotidien litigation history
What Le Pain Quotidien disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2023 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
- 1
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest settlement, franchisor's own cases
- None stated
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- Disclosed · an officer
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2023
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
LPQ Central Canada Inc. v. PQ Licensing S.A. et al. (Ontario Superior Court, Case No. CV-11-436710): Canadian area developer filed complaint alleging non-compliant disclosure and misrepresentation; sought damages up to $18M. Litigation administratively dismissed 2013, stayed pending arbitration 2014. Arbitration bifurcated; timeliness challenges resolved 2016 and 2019. Pending final resolution as of FDD date.
Item 3 (litigation) · 1 matter disclosed · 1 pending listed
Litigation cases
The franchisor and its predecessor
Pending (1)
LPQ Central Canada Inc. v. PQ Licensing S.A., Vincent Herbert, and Jean-Marie Jose
pendingBrought by a franchisee · PQ Licensing S.A. · filed 2011-10-06 · Ontario Superior Court of Justice (stayed pending arbitration) · CV-11-436710
“… Case No. CV-11-436710 (Ontario Superior Court of Justice).”Page 10 of the 2023 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.
Disclosed in the 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 4: bankruptcy
Predecessor PQ Licensing SA filed for judicial reorganization in Belgium (Brussels Enterprise Court, Case No. Q/20/00022) on May 4/22, 2020; reorganization plan approved June 24, 2020; assets acquired by BrunchCo 21 SA on July 10, 2020. Predecessor's subsidiary PQ New York Inc. filed Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Delaware (Case No. 20-11266) on May 27, 2020; plan of liquidation confirmed September 25, 2020; proceedings ongoing as of FDD date.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Active litigation seeking $18M damages and rescission of development agreement signals serious disclosure/compliance issues between franchisor and franchisees
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?