Atlanta Bread case to get supreme review
The Georgia Supreme Court last month agreed to review an appellate court decision in the case of a former Atlanta Bread Company franchisee that sued after being terminated by the company for allegedly opening a competing franchise.
The case has received considerable attention due in part to the high level of interest from the International Franchise Association, which had filed an amicus brief in support of Atlanta Bread and requested the Supreme Court review. The IFA wants the court to consider whether the Georgia Court of Appeals erred this summer when it said that Atlanta Bread's non-compete clause was too broad.
The five-unit franchisee in the case, Sean Lupton-Smith, initially filed the lawsuit in 2006 after his franchise agreement was terminated. Lupton-Smith was terminated for allegedly violating his non-compete clause in opening a PJ's Coffee, a New Orleans-based coffee franchise.
The lower court, in a decision affirmed by an appeals court this summer, found that Lupton-Smith would have violated the agreement regardless of the location of his PJ's Coffee. Nor did the agreement refer to what Lupton-Smith could have done for the competition - he couldn't have been so much as a janitor without violating the covenant.
David French, IFA's vice president of government relations, said that the case is important to preserving the franchise model. He said that the lower-court ruling could render unenforceable the non-compete covenants in the "vast majority" of franchise contracts in Georgia.
GPM gets Zwisler
Carl Zwisler has joined Gray Plant Mooty's Washington, D.C., office as a principal in the firm's franchise and distribution practice group.
Zwisler represents franchisors, manufacturers and investors in structuring, negotiating and enforcing domestic and international franchise, licensing, distribution and acquisition agreements. He has more than 33 years of franchising experience and has worked with clients in very phase of domestic and international franchising.
Zwisler was the International Franchise Association's staff counsel from 1975 to 1983 and later chaired the IFA's Supplier Forum and served on its board of directors. In 2005, he was the first lawyer to receive IFA's Distinguished Service Award.
Kapustin joins Chernow Katz
Steven Kapustin has joined the Philadelphia office of Chernow Katz.
Kapustin, a litigator, has been a Pennsylvania "SuperLawyer" for three years. He is a 1972 graduate of Temple University's Beasley School of Law.
