California Court of Appeal

In plaintiff's suit against a defendant franchisor, 1-800-Got Junk?, for wrongfully terminating a franchise, defendant's request for a writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate its order that the law of Washington State applies to this action and to enter a new order that California law applies is denied where: 1) because a multi-state franchisor has an interest in having its franchise agreements governed by a uniform body of law, defendant had a reasonable basis for inserting a choice of law provision in the franchise agreement, and defendant cannot avoid that Washington choice of law provision it included in the franchise agreement; and 2) enforcement of the choice provision is not barred by section 20010 as the instant franchise agreement, which gave the franchisee enhanced protection from summary termination pursuant to Washington law, did not diminish the franchisee's substantive rights under the California Franchise Relations Act (CFRA) and therefore did not amount to a waiver of compliance with the CFRA.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/21/2010
• Published 10/21/2010

Judges

• KLEIN

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• George P. Schiavelli