FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2021 filing
Trailer Birds Hot Chicken litigation history
What Trailer Birds Hot Chicken disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2021 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
- 3
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- None stated
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2021
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2021 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
Three putative class action lawsuits pending against DBRI and DCG related to data security incident (April 2019-October 2020) affecting payment card information at some Dickey's Barbecue Pit locations. Cases filed in Southern District of California and Northern District of Texas. Claims include negligence, privacy violations, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, CCPA violations, FTC Act violations, and state consumer protection violations. No franchisees named as defendants. Settlement agreement reached in August 2021 in Adams case and two other actions, awaiting court approval.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Litigation is parent Dickey's data-breach class actions, not brand-specific
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?