FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing

PetSmart Veterinary Services litigation history

What PetSmart Veterinary Services 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: 3; 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

Three matters: (1) PetSmart LLC v. Banfield — breach of contract arbitration, non-monetary resolution July 2024; (2) Vanzant consumer class action naming PetSmart as defendant, class certification denied 9/2023; (3) SEC cease-and-desist order against CFO Schnaid from 2014 re: late Section 16 filings.

Item 3 (litigation) · 3 matters disclosed

Litigation cases

Parent, affiliates, master franchisor and subfranchisor

Concluded (2)

PetSmart LLC v. Medical Management International, Inc. d/b/a Banfield, The Pet Hospital
concluded
PetSmart LLC (our parent) · filed 2022-05-27 · Arbitration
“… In 2007, our parent, PetSmart LLC (PetSmart) and Medical Management International, Inc. d/b/a Banfield, The Pet Hospital (Banfield), entered into a Master Operations”Page 10 of the 2025 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “On July 17, 2024, the parties agreed to a non-monetary global resolution of the dispute, with Banfield agreeing to refrain from certain activity that PetSmart contended was in breach of the MOA and the MOA remaining in full force and effect.”
Vanzant, et al. v. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc., et al.
judgment
Brought by a third party · PetSmart, Inc. n/k/a PetSmart LLC (our parent) · filed 2017 · 17 cv 2535
“… – Case No. 17 cv 2535 In March 2017, certain consumers filed a putative class action lawsuit on behalf of Illinois purchasers of therapeutic pet food, alleging violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and unjust enrichment in connection with the sale of therapeutic pet food.”Page 10 of the 2025 FDD, Item 3

Officers and directors (individuals, not the company)

Concluded (1)

In the Matter of Alan M. Schnaid
concluded
Government or regulatory action · Alan M. Schnaid (our Executive Vice President and CFO, Item 2) · filed 2014-09-10 · U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · 3-16071
“… File No. 3-16071 On September 10, 2014, Alan Schnaid, who was then an executive with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (Starwood), together with Starwood, entered into separate Cease and Desist Orders with the”Page 10 of the 2025 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.

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?

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