FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2026 filing
Mr. Gatti's litigation history
What Mr. Gatti's 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 (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
- 2026
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
One settled action (2019) by a franchisee against predecessor Gatti's Great Pizza, Inc. and its owners (Phillips, Mann) alleging breach of contract related to purchase of 13 former company-affiliated facilities; settled for $200,000 in rent subsidies without admission of liability. No pending or concluded matters against the franchisor directly, and no litigation against franchisees in the last fiscal year.
Item 3 (litigation) · 1 matter disclosed
Litigation cases
Parent, affiliates, master franchisor and subfranchisor
Concluded (1)
Three Dough Boys, LLC, Jeff Tisdel and Kenny Starks v. Gatti’s Great Pizza, Inc., R.J. Phillips and Kyle C. Mann
settledBrought by a franchisee · Gatti’s Great Pizza, Inc. (an affiliate of predecessor MGLP); R.J. Phillips and Kyle C. Mann (Item 2) · filed 2019-07-19 · U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division (adversary proceeding in In re Sovrano et al.) · Adv. 19-04070-elm; 19-40067-elm11
“… Adversary Proceeding #19-04070-elm (filed in In re Sovrano et.al., United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, Case Number 19-40067-elm11).”Page 11 of the 2026 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “on September 5, 2019, the parties reached a settlement without admission of liability whereby the franchisee would receive a total of $200,000 in rent subsidies for the purchased Facilities payable over 10 months beginning in October 2019 (an amount significantly less than projected litigation”
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 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 4: bankruptcy
Predecessor MGLP and affiliates (Sovrano LLC, Gatti's Great Pizza, Inc., Gigi's Cupcakes entities, KeyCorp LLC) filed Chapter 11 on January 4, 2019 in N.D. Texas; plan confirmed October 17, 2019, effective November 19, 2019; individual cases closed September 30, 2021. Two related affiliates (Allorco LLC, GGP Mississippi LLC) filed Chapter 7 in 2019, both discharged same year. Current managers Phillips and Mann were officers/managers of the debtor entities.
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?