FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
OctoClean litigation history
What OctoClean 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
Case 1: Aguirre et al. AAA arbitration (filed 2018); OctoClean sued former franchisees for breach/trade secret misappropriation; ultimately awarded damages against co-respondents. Case 2: California DFPI Commissioner enforcement — OctoClean entered franchise agreements while unregistered; resolved via consent order September 2023 with $35,000 penalty and offers to rescind affected agreements.
Item 3 (litigation) · 2 matters disclosed
Litigation cases
The franchisor
Concluded (2)
The Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation v. OctoClean Franchising Systems, Inc.
concludedGovernment or regulatory action · filed 2023-09-05 · California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation
“… Before the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation of the State of California.”Page 14 of the 2025 FDD, Item 3
OctoClean Franchising Systems, Inc. v. Aguirre et al.
judgmentBrought against a franchisee · filed 2018-04-11 · American Arbitration Association · 01-18-0001-4807
“… American Arbitration Association, Case No. 01-18-0001-4807 was initiated on April 11, 2018.”Page 13 of the 2025 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “On March 24, 2021, the Court granted OctoClean’s petition and ordered judgement in favor of OctoClean and against 24/7 Construction for the award of compensatory damages, pre-judgment interest, punitive damages and reimbursement of administrative fees.” (page 14)
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.
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?