Must franchise agreements say that franchisees are solely responsible and liable for franchisee operations. But saying, writing it, does not make it, so. There are times that customers claim it is the franchisor that is liable. And, there are times that the franchisor is right.
One such case is the one filed in Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas against Massage Envy. Massage Envy has been plague by a rash of complaints regarding sexual assaults. The Court House News Service reports more than 50 complaints in more than 15 states. http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/07/31/client-ties-massage-envy-assaults-to-lax-policy.htm .
Per Daily News: http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20150803/suit-filed-against-west-goshen-massage-spa
In addition to monetary damages, the suit asks that the national chain be held responsible for putting policies in place that would change the way the attorneys contend allegations of sexual assault against massage therapists are handled now.
The Daily News goes on to quote attorney for the plaintiff as saying:
“The pattern that you see across the country is that there is a report made by a female customer against a therapist, and that the therapist is either transferred or rehired by another franchise, but no one reports it to law enforcement. In this case, from our understanding, there was little done”
In essence the plaintiff’s attorney is saying, if there is a pervasive problem with the franchise system, the franchisor is responsible to make policies to address the problem and if the franchisor instead does nothing to the address problem within a system, the franchisor is liable.
Is that deductive reasoning? Is that the assertion? Is omission, a lack of responsiveness sufficient to create franchisor liability? Or, did Massage Envy do something to further the barrage of alleged sexual assaults within its franchise system. We will see as the case progresses. However the assertions, either way, are profound.