Texas Franchise Agreement Lawyer and Texas Business Franchise Lawyer  

Austin, Texas franchise Lawyer, Jason Coomer reviews franchise agreements and handles Texas business litigation claims including franchise disputes, common law fraud, and negligent misrepresentation.  He represents clients through negotiations, arbitrations, mediations, and trials.  He is an experienced litigator and is admitted to practice in all Texas State Courts and in Federal Court (Western District of Texas).  If you need an Austin Texas franchise lawyer or an Austin Texas business litigation attorney to advise you on franchise issues or business matters, contact Austin business lawyer Jason Coomer via e-mail or use our online contact form.

Franchise Agreements

A franchise agreement is a method of doing business wherein a franchisor licenses tried and proven methods of doing business to a franchisee in exchange for a recurring payment, and usually a percentage piece of gross sales or gross profits as well as the annual fees. In exchange for these annual payments and percentage of revenues, the franchisor will provide various tangible and intangible assets such as trademarks & intellectual property, trade secrets, national or international advertising, training, and other support services.  The franchisee is typically required to provide accounting information and may be subject to periodic and surprise spot checks.

Franchise agreements can be extremely complicated and prior to entering into one, a business person should be aware of their reasonable expectation on return of investment as well as the risks they face including the franchisor's rights of non-renewal or cancellation of franchise rights.

Negotiations and Bargaining Power
(Protection of Assets)

In most situations the franchisee does not have equal power to the franchisor in negotiating franchise agreements.  This is because typically the franchisor has negotiated several similar franchise agreements and is not only familiar with sales tactics to push a particular franchise, but also has better access to accounting information on other franchises, has more money, and often controls the language in the the franchise agreements.  The franchisor is typically a small business that has invested quite a bit of their life's savings into a franchise and is learning many aspects of the business or this particular franchise from the franchisor.

The Franchisor (The Head Office)

From the franchisor's perspective, they have a valuable business plan and have built up good will in their business name.  For this reason they want to continue to expand the good will of their business and profit from new outlets or franchises of their business.  The franchisor wants to ensure that each individual franchise complies with its business standards and provides profits for the use of franchise assets including advertising, good will, intellectual property, and business know how.

The Franchisee (The Chain Store or Outlet)

From the franchisee's perspective, they want to ensure that the franchise that they were sold is a good investment and that the representations made about the franchise including estimates on profitability were correct.  The franchisee wants a good investment opportunity where the franchisor will provide the necessary business assets and know how to make money.  They also wants to be protected from arbitrary cancellation or non-renewal of their franchise as well as from undue competition from other franchises. 

Franchise Disputes (Protecting Rights)

Because the interests of franchisees and franchisors are not always aligned, franchise agreement disputes are relatively common.  More often than not, the little disputes can be worked out between the parties.  However, sometimes the disputes cannot be simply resolved a third party needs to come in to resolve disputes.  Many times this can be done through negotiations, but other times the parties need to go to arbitration, mediation or even court to resolve their differences.

Texas Business Franchise Lawyer, Jason Coomer works with Texas businesses including franchisors and franchisees who have franchise disputes involving renewals, cancellations, advertising, accounting, locations of other franchises, trade secrets, fraud, misrepresentation, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, trade secrets, and other business litigation claims.  When negotiating a franchise agreement or litigating a franchise dispute, it can be extremely beneficial to consult a franchise lawyer to review your rights and discuss your options to help you protect your business and assets.

Experienced Business Fraud Litigator

Jason Coomer is an experienced business fraud litigator that is well versed in the law and familiar with the use of multimedia technology in complicated litigation. He is a former Chair of the Council Chairs for the State Bar of Texas leading several thousand attorneys including the Business Law Section, Corporate Counsel Section, and the Real Estate, Probate, & Trust Section.  He is also a former Chair of the Computer & Technology Section of the State Bar of Texas as well as several Technology Committees for several bar associations.  He has been a Speaker at several State Bar of Texas Continuing Legal Education Seminars including the Annual Meeting, Bar Tech, and the Advance Personal Injury Seminar.  He has spoken on the use of technology in litigation as well as has been published in the Texas Bar Journal and Texas Realtor Magazine.  He is familiar with a wide variety of Real Estate Law, Commercial Law, Business Litigation Lawyer, Computer Law, Property Law, and other complex legal issues. 

The Law Offices of Jason S. Coomer, P.L.L.C. helps businesses and individuals with business fraud claims, shareholder class actions, corporate directors fraud & malfeasance, breach of corporate officers breach of fiduciary duty, theft of trade secrets, accounting malpractice, misrepresentation, libel & slander, and other business litigation matters. 

Austin Texas business fraud Lawyer, Jason Coomer handles Texas business litigation claims including breach of contract claims, fraud claims, business ownership & joint venture disputes, commercial development disputes, and intellectual property disputes.  He represents clients through negotiations, arbitrations, mediations, and trials.  If you need an Austin Texas business fraud attorney or an Austin Texas business litigation attorney to advise you on a business litigation claim, contact Austin Texas business fraud lawyer Jason Coomer.