[Chiquita]

we bought a franchisee jan of 06. we pretty got lied to when buying the business. now there is a legal lawsuit on 4 of the franchisees regarding unethical behavior. now the shopowners before us already had one or a couple of warnings about the unethical work. then we bought the shop and weren't aware about this. then one of our guys got caught not 'doing' the job but 'chargin' for it..we were not aware of it. and that is not my way of doing business. i was very unfamiliar about the way this franchise works and their system. but i got into it and now i can't even sell it. however what our guy did was rather minimal compared to the other. the other shops have had several warning. now the lawyer assigned by the franchior wants to take all our cases together. if we get a penalty all of us get a penalty. so i want to know whether i should get my own lawyer because i should also get a warning like the rest of the shops did before i am entitled to a penalty etc..any suggestions...

[Yada]

You are right get you own lawyer because you do not want to be charge with anything that was not your fault and you did not know about. GET YOUR OWN LAWYER!!!

[Sarah K]

Usually, they don't need to issue a warning, but they do so as a service to the franchisees. You may want to hire a lawyer either way... but it may end up costing more in legal fees (civil court) than the penalties would be.

[spunk y]

Thank God for lawyers...