Termination or dissolution of the franchise agreement by the franchisee
In principle, franchise agreements can be terminated prematurely, for example by cancellation or dissolution. On 21 March 2018, the District Court of Overijssel, ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2018:1335, ruled on the question whether a franchisee had validly terminated the franchise agreement prematurely.
The franchisor had wanted to use summary proceedings to ensure that the cooperation between the parties would be resumed immediately, now that the franchisee had discontinued it. The franchise agreement contained rules about early termination. However, the franchisee had not signed the franchise agreement and in the context of the preliminary relief proceedings the court disregarded the provisions of the franchise agreement. It has been established, however, that the parties had in any case concluded an (oral) continuing performance contract.
The franchisee had already indicated to the franchisor for some time that he wished to terminate the franchise agreement as soon as possible. Instead of terminating the franchise agreement, the franchisee had terminated the franchise agreement. However, the franchisee had not sufficiently substantiated and substantiated that the franchisor had failed. It had therefore not become plausible that it was justified to terminate the franchise agreements.
Since the franchisee had not terminated the franchise agreement, which may under certain circumstances be possible to terminate, and the dissolution was not legally valid, the (verbally) concluded franchise agreement must be complied with.
mr. AW Dolphijn – franchise lawyer
Ludwig & Van Dam Franchise attorneys, franchise legal advice. Do you want to respond? Go to dolphijn@ludwigvandam.nl .
Other messages
Legal Franchise Statistics 2019: slight decrease in number of franchise disputes
In 2018, 44 judgments were published on Rechtspraak.nl, 12 of which were appeal cases and one in cassation (a prognosis issue against Albert Heijn).
Article De Nationale Franchisegids: “Judge again rules in favor of Domino’s franchisees” – dated September 3, 2019 – mr. RCWL Albers
At the beginning of 2018, almost all franchisees of Domino's and the Association of Domino's Pizza Franchisees submitted two issues to the court in Rotterdam.
Article De Nationale Franchisegids: “The interim termination of the franchise agreement” – August 12, 2019 – mr. JAJ Devilee
A franchise agreement can end prematurely in many ways.
Article De Nationale Franchise Gids: “Parliamentary questions asked about (false) self-employment franchisees” – dated 24 July 2019 – mr. M. Munnik
Parliamentary questions have recently been asked about the so-called bogus self-employment within the relationship between franchisor and franchisee.
Article Franchise+: “With our franchise formula you will earn mountains of gold.” dated 10 July 2019 – mr. AW Dolphin
The distinction between permissible promotions and misleading information remains a gray area, despite the relevant legislation.
Franchisee may purchase a range of foreign products after mandatory formula change – June 6, 2019 – mr. JAJ Devilee
The District Court of East Brabant recently dealt with an important matter in preliminary relief proceedings in which a franchisee was completely involuntarily forced to adopt an alternative formula.