FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2025 filing
Tom N Toms Coffee litigation history
What Tom N Toms Coffee 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
- 1
- 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
California Commissioner of Business Oversight v. Tom N Toms Franchise, LLC (OAH Case Nos. 2016061013 and 2016061015) - Administrative action filed May 12, 2016 alleging violations of California franchise laws including untrue statements of material facts, unregistered franchise seller, and failure to disclose material facts. Franchisor denied allegations. Settled via Final Consent Order on November 21, 2016 without admission of liability. Tom N Toms paid $15,000 restitution to franchisee, $7,500 penalties, $14,700 in attorney fees and costs, agreed to desist franchise activity until proper registration, and required franchise sellers to complete 8 hours remedial education in franchise law. Franchisor has fully complied.
Item 3 (litigation) · 1 matter disclosed
Litigation cases
The franchisor
Concluded (1)
California Commissioner of Business Oversight v. Tom N Toms Franchise, LLC
concludedGovernment or regulatory action · filed 2016-05-12 · California Office of Administrative Hearings (Commissioner of Business Oversight) · OAH Case Nos. 2016061013 and 2016061015
“… (OAH Case Nos. 2016061013 and 2016061015). On May 12, 2016, California Commissioner of Business Oversight brought administrative actions against Tom N Toms Franchise, LLC and certain”Page 12 of the 2025 FDD, Item 3
Outcome: “entered into a Final Consent Order with the Commissioner of Business Oversight to (i) pay $15,000 as restitution to the complaining franchisee, (ii) pay $7,500 as penalties to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and reimburse Commissioner’s attorney’s fees and costs in the amount” (page 13)
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?