Does the Bft franchise agreement allow for class arbitration?
Bft Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- 16.9 WAIVER OF CLASS ACTIONS. THE PARTIES AGREE THAT ALL PROCEEDINGS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR THE OPERATIONS OF THE STUDIO, WILL BE CONDUCTED ON AN INDIVIDUAL, NOT A CLASS-WIDE BASIS, AND THAT ANY PROCEEDING BETWEEN FRANCHISEE, FRANCHISEE'S GUARANTORS AND FRANCHISOR OR THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, OWNERS, OR EMPLOYEES MAY NOT BE CONSOLIDATED WITH ANY OTHER PROCEEDING BETWEEN FRANCHISOR AND ANY OTHER THIRD-PARTY.
The Parties expressly waive the right to have any claim or dispute brought, heard, administered, resolved, or arbitrated as a class, collective, coordinated, consolidated, and/or representative action, and neither an arbitrator nor an arbitration provider shall have any authority to hear, arbitrate, or administer any class, collective, coordinated, consolidated, and/or representative action, or to award relief to anyone but the individual in arbitration.
The Parties also expressly waive the right to seek, recover, or obtain any non-individual relief.
Notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement, this Section does not prevent the Parties from participating in a classwide, collective, and/or representative settlement of claims.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPTS (FDD pages 79–265)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Bft Franchise Disclosure Document, the franchise agreement does not allow for class arbitration. The agreement specifies that all proceedings related to the agreement or the studio's operations will be conducted on an individual basis, not as a class-wide action.
The Bft franchise agreement explicitly waives the right to have any claim or dispute brought, heard, administered, resolved, or arbitrated as a class, collective, coordinated, consolidated, or representative action. Furthermore, neither an arbitrator nor an arbitration provider has the authority to hear, arbitrate, or administer any such class action, nor can they award relief to anyone other than the individual in arbitration. The agreement also states that parties waive the right to seek or obtain any non-individual relief.
However, the Bft agreement does state that this section does not prevent parties from participating in a class-wide, collective, or representative settlement of claims. This means that while franchisees cannot initiate or participate in class action arbitration, they are not barred from joining a class-wide settlement if one is offered.