Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Enters Its 50th Year: Excluded Relationships
Earlier in Stafford Rosenbaum’s Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law blog series, we explained that the WFDL extends good-cause, notice, and opportunity-to-cure protections to an extraordinarily diverse set of businesses, including beauty product wholesalers, lawn and farm equipment distributors, and even municipal contractors. That said, the statute and case law have created specific and limited exceptions to […]
Filed Under: Business Law Dealership & Franchise Law
New Food Delivery Service Regulation on the Horizon?
Last year, we wrote about a bi-partisan group of state senators and members of the state assembly introducing legislation to regulate third-party food delivery services in Wisconsin. Although that legislation stalled, an expanded group of state legislators has re-introduced a similar bill with some slight modifications. The 2023 proposed legislation seeks to create three requirements […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Enters Its 50th Year: Remedies
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (WFDL), Wis. Stats. § 135.01 et seq., is triggered only when a grantor takes or plans to take an action that has considerable impact on the relationship with its dealer. Whether that action is termination, cancellation, non-renewal, or substantially changing the competitive circumstances of the relationship, needless to say, the […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Enters Its 50th Year: Notice and Cure
The protections conferred by the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law extend beyond good cause. The WFDL expressly requires that a grantor issue a dealer proper notice with an opportunity to cure prior to terminating, not renewing, cancelling, or substantially changing the dealership. As discussed in our previous post, what constitutes proper notice turns, in part, on […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Enters Its 50th Year: What Is Good Cause?
Good cause is the core protection provided by the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law. In a dealership relationship covered by the WFDL (see our previous blog post that defines a dealership as it pertains to the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law), the grantor cannot terminate, fail to renew, cancel, or substantially change the competitive circumstances of the […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Enters Its 50th Year: What Is a Dealership?
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law is a robust trade law that prohibits “grantors” from terminating, failing to renew, cancelling, or substantially changing “dealerships” without good cause, proper notice, and an opportunity to cure. With a few select exceptions, the WFDL applies generally, and a wide range of businesses have successfully claimed protection under the statute, […]
Filed Under: Business Law Dealership & Franchise Law
The Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Enters Its 50th Year: An Introduction
On April 5, 1974, Governor Patrick Lucey signed the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law into law, hailing it as the Magna Carta for small businesses. In his words, the WFDL was enacted to “protect the thousands of small businessmen in Wisconsin” who operate “filling stations, building materials and supply houses, lumber yards, sports equipment stores” and […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
What Wisconsin Wholesalers Need to Know about the Treasury Department’s Competition Report
Last summer, President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14036 targeting “any unlawful trade practices in the beer, wine, and spirits markets, such as certain exclusionary, discriminatory, or anticompetitive distribution practices,” as well as “patterns of consolidation in production, distribution, or retail beer, wine, and spirits market.” The Executive Order required that the United States Department […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
Wisconsin Legislature Considers Bill to Regulate Third-Party Food Delivery Services
The use of third-party food delivery services has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies such as Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash provide customers with greater access to their favorite restaurants without having to leave the comfort of their own homes. But the use of such delivery services has also caused troubles for customers and restaurants […]
Filed Under: Appellate Law Dealership & Franchise Law
Wisconsin Supreme Court Decision Raises Fair Dealership Law Questions Beyond Municipal Liability
The primary issue in Benson v. City of Madison, 2017 WI 65, is clearly the question of whether the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (“WFDL”) reaches contractual relationships involving municipalities. As discussed here, this is an issue of first impression, and the Court’s holding has broad implications. There are, however, additional aspects of the decision worth […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
Does Size Matter Under Price Discrimination Laws? Seventh Circuit Says “Not Always”
Late last week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Woodman’s Food Markets’ claim that Clorox Company violated federal price discrimination laws when it ceased selling “large packs” of certain products to Woodman’s, while continuing to sell such large packs to discount warehouses such as Costco and Sam’s Club. A three-judge panel of the Seventh […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
Putting “Secrets” in the FDD: A Franchisor Nondisclosure Trap
The Federal Trade Commission mandates disclosure of “any material action involving the franchise relationship during the last fiscal year” under Item 3 of the Franchise Disclosure Document (“FDD”), which must be provided to all prospective franchisees. But as a recent opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit illustrates, this seemingly innocuous […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
New Law Limits Franchisors’ Joint Employer Liability Exposure In Wisconsin
In an environment where franchisors are increasingly concerned about being deemed “joint employers” with their franchisees, the Wisconsin Legislature has provided some welcome relief. It has enacted legislation that provides franchisors with assurances that they will not be treated as an “employer” of the employees of a franchisee for purposes of Wisconsin laws pertaining to […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
“Frankenstein” Veto Language Interpreted by Federal District Court
A recent post on this blog noted that wine distributors were not covered by an expansion of the definition of “dealer” under 1999 amendments to the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (“WFDL”) due to “a creative partial veto from then-Gov. Thompson.” That creative partial veto was front and center in a decision and order issued last […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
Wine and Spirits Distributors Said To Be Seeking Legislative Protections
The Wheeler Report reported on Thursday that five trade associations have raised concerns to statelegislators about rumored proposed amendments to Wisconsin’s Fair Dealership Law that would make it easier for wine and spirits distributors to transfer brand distribution agreements to third parties. One letter to legislators dated May 14, 2015 was jointly authored by the […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
When Does The Statute of Limitations Begin to Run on WFDL Claims?
Although the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (“WFDL”) provides significant protections for franchisees and dealers against termination and non-renewal, the statute of limitations for filing WFDL claims is one year. That short limitations period can be a minefield for parties seeking relief under the WFDL. For 30 years, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling in Les Moise, […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
Crowdfunding Comes To The Franchise World
Brian Butler and Paul Kent, attorneys with Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, have been included in Chambers USA 2012: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. The law firm itself was selected separately as one of nine Wisconsin law firms named in the category of Litigation: General Commercial.
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
Fore! Governmental Entities May Need To Consider Applicability Of WFDL
Stafford Rosenbaum is proud to announce that twenty-one of its attorneys have been named as 2014 Best Lawyers in America. This year’s awards cover attorneys in 134 practice areas, all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and inclusion in this year’s publication is based on more than 4.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
The Good, the Bad, the Uncertain: Developments In Franchisor Liability
The legal debate over imposing vicarious liability of franchisors – or making franchisorsliable for the acts of their franchisees and franchisees’ employees – has flared up this year, thanks in large part to a recent court decision and policy directives emanating from the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. The […]
Filed Under: Dealership & Franchise Law
Preemption principles applied to dismiss Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law claim
In a recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the court held that an arbitration panel’s finding that federal securities laws preempt the application of the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (WFDL) could be made by the panel “without [panel members] taking leave of their senses.” The rulingprovidesan example ofanother […]
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