FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2026 filing
Petro Stopping Centers litigation history
What Petro Stopping Centers 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
- 10
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $5.5B
- 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
Petro Franchise Systems LLC has no pending or concluded litigation. Parent/affiliate entities have 5 currently effective injunctions (California UST compliance, CFTC propane manipulation, ARCO antitrust, Atlantic Refining FTC, Richfield Oil antitrust) and several pending matters including Deepwater Horizon oil spill proceedings, Pennsylvania and Maryland MTBE lawsuits, and Mexican class actions.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Going Concern status indicates potential insolvency despite 63.6% unit growth (suggests acquisition/restructuring, not organic health)
- Massive litigation exposure: Deepwater Horizon (hundreds of lawsuits), UST environmental liability, MTBE contamination, antitrust/price manipulation, and False Claims Act settlement create ongoing financial and reputational risk
- High unit growth (63.6% YoY) during going concern status suggests distressed franchisee recruitment rather than system strength
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?