What dispute resolution procedures must be followed by parties involved in a dispute relating to the Stretch Zone franchise agreement?
Stretch_Zone Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
This is a long-term business relationship. If a dispute arises at any time between the parties relating to this Agreement, the parties will follow the dispute resolution procedures set forth in this ARTICLE.
Section 17.1 INFORMAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Except for the matters involving the remedies in Section 17.4, the parties will attempt in good faith to meet in person to discuss and resolve the dispute. The party requesting the meeting will send a written notice to the other party detailing what the party believes to be the nature of the dispute including the facts and the provisions in this Agreement on which the dispute is based-and how the dispute may be satisfactorily resolved. The meeting will take place at our headquarters (currently Fort Lauderdale, Florida). At the meeting, each party will be represented by a person authorized to conclusively resolve the dispute on that party's behalf and to bind that party to any agreed-upon resolution. Discussions and exchanges of information and materials, if any, are confidential and must be treated as part of compromise and settlement negotiations for purposes of applicable rules of evidence. If the parties resolve the dispute at the meeting, they will immediately formalize that resolution by an agreement that they both sign at the time. This step must occur before either party can file a request for mediation. Any party that fails to attend or participate in the meeting, within 30 days of written request, may not begin any mediation under Section 17.2 to
resolve the dispute. If the parties cannot informally resolve the dispute, the party seeking formal resolution of the dispute must, before it may commence or initiate a legal or administrative proceeding relating to the dispute, submit the dispute to nonbinding mediation as described in Section 17.2.
Source: Item 8 — Receipts. Any sale made must be in compliance with § 683(8) of the Franchise Sale Act (N.Y. Gen. Bus. L. § 680 et seq.), which describes the time period a Franchise Disclosure Document (offering prospectus) must be provided to a prospective franchisee before a sale may be made. New York law requires a franchisor to provide the Franchise Disclosure Document at the earliest of the first personal meeting or ten (10) business days before the execution of the franchise or other agreement or the payment of any consideration that relates to the franchise relationship. (FDD pages 99–263)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Stretch Zone's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, if a dispute arises between Stretch Zone and a franchisee, both parties must follow a specific set of procedures to resolve the issue. First, both parties must attempt to resolve the dispute informally by meeting in person. The party requesting the meeting must provide a written notice detailing the nature of the dispute, the facts, the agreement provisions involved, and how they believe the dispute can be resolved. This meeting is to be held at Stretch Zone's headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Each party must send a representative authorized to resolve the dispute. All discussions are confidential and treated as settlement negotiations.
Before initiating any formal legal or administrative proceedings, the dispute must be submitted to nonbinding mediation if the informal meeting does not resolve the issue. A party cannot begin mediation if they fail to attend the initial informal dispute resolution meeting within 30 days of a written request.
This multi-step approach—informal meeting followed by mediation—is a fairly standard practice in franchising. It aims to resolve disputes efficiently and amicably before resorting to costly and time-consuming litigation. Franchisees should be aware of these requirements and prepared to engage in good faith in these resolution attempts.