For the second year in a row, Ice Miller is proud to congratulate partner Christina Fugate for being named a Legal Eagle by the Franchise Times for her work in transactional and litigation franchise law. The Legal Eagle list is built with nominations and recommendations from clients, peers and other legal professionals.

Ice Miller is proud to congratulate partner Christina Fugate for being named a Legal Eagle by the Franchise Times for her work in transactional and litigation franchise law. The Legal Eagle list is built with nominations and recommendations from clients, peers and other legal professionals.

Christina Fugate, Ice Miller partner and chair of the Firm’s Franchise and Distribution team, recently earned her Certified Franchise Executive designation from the International Franchise Association’s Institute of Certified Franchise Executives.

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) regulates the franchise industry at the federal level, requiring that franchisors provide certain disclosures (23 items) through a Franchise Disclosure Document to prospective franchisees before they sign a franchise agreement or give the franchisor any money. Individual states can adopt additional laws. Various states have done just that – requiring the filing of the Uniform Franchise Registration Application, paying of filing fees, providing notice of intent to sell franchises, to name just a few. Some states have also passed “relationship laws” that regulate the relationship between the franchisor and its franchisee. Recently, there have been some new developments among certain states adopting laws that would regulate the franchise agreements and relationships in Alabama and Washington.

A MAP policy is a program designed by franchisors to require that their franchisees not advertise or publicly offer to sell the system’s products or services below a price set by the franchisor. Why are MAP policies adopted? To name a few reasons, they are adopted to promote fair competition across the franchise system; to maintain brand identity; and to allow smaller franchisee outlets to compete with larger ones. 

On April 1, the Department of Labor issued a proposed regulation intended to minimize a franchisor's joint employer liability by narrowing the circumstances in which businesses (including franchisors) can be considered joint employers.