FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Salon Professional Education Company (SPEC) litigation history
What Salon Professional Education Company (SPEC) 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 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 2
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- 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
(1) SPEC v. Vara School Professionals, Inc. (d/b/a TSPA Plainfield f/k/a TSPA Shorewood) and owners (US Dist. Ct. ND, Case No. 3:21-CV-00222-ARS, Dec 2021) — franchisor-initiated action for breach (unpaid monies, untimely reports); counterclaims dropped in settlement, franchise terminated. (2) Washington consent order (Nov 13, 2013, Order No. S-13-1358-CO01) with WA DFI Securities Division re: 2008 sale of one unregistered franchise; agreed to cease and desist from violating the WA Franchise Investment Protection Act.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Recent litigation history (2021 breach of contract suit; 2013 Washington consent order for unregistered sale) indicates compliance and relationship management issues
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?