Who is responsible for paying the expenses of witnesses for either side in an Amorino franchise arbitration?
Amorino Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
reasonable discretion, regardless of any designation that accompanies the payment.
- Q. Collection Costs and Expenses. You agree to reimburse us for, and to pay on demand, all costs and expenses that we may incur to enforce the terms of this Agreement, including the cost of collecting any monies that you may owe to us under this Agreement. Such costs and expenses include reasonable collection agency fees, court costs, expert witness fees, discovery costs and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, together with interest charges on all of the foregoing.
7. TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE
A. Initial Training. Prior to opening the Store for business, your Supervising Principal or Manager must attend and complete to our satisfaction our initial training program. The first ten days of the initial training program will take place at our Paris, France headquarters. Your Supervising Principal and your Manager (or if you have no Manager, another employee)
must attend Amorino's initial training program.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 80–81)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Amorino FDD, the franchisee is responsible for reimbursing Amorino for costs and expenses incurred to enforce the terms of the Franchise Agreement. This includes expert witness fees. Therefore, if Amorino prevails in an action against the franchisee, the franchisee may have to cover Amorino's expert witness fees.
Specifically, the FDD states that the franchisee agrees to reimburse Amorino for all costs and expenses incurred to enforce the terms of the agreement. These costs and expenses include reasonable collection agency fees, court costs, expert witness fees, discovery costs, and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, along with interest charges on all of the aforementioned costs.
Additionally, the FDD states that should either party commence any action or proceeding for the purpose of enforcing, or preventing the breach of, any provision, the prevailing party in any such action shall have the right to recover from the other party its reasonable attorneys' fees, court costs and expenses of litigation. This clause applies whether the action is pursued through arbitration, judicial, or quasi-judicial means. This means that the responsibility for witness expenses, specifically expert witnesses, ultimately falls on the party that does not prevail in any legal or arbitration action.