Trial Opens In Suit Over Dunkin’ Donuts Shops

Providence Journal:

A nine-member jury heard opening statements and testimony Thursday on the first day of a federal trial in the case of a Vermont businessman who hopes to wring more than $13 million from the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee shop chain.

The dispute landed in U.S. District Court in Providence this week — four years after the company and its former franchisee, Irwin Barkan, of Waitsfield, Vt., became embroiled in the legal battle.

Back in 2005, when the battle began, it was one of a relatively small number of disputes between the chain, then owned by Allied Domecq, and its franchisees.

Now the chain is enmeshed in more than 350 lawsuits with its franchisees, including Barkan, a businessman described by his lawyer as a “hands-on” owner willing to spend most of each week away from his family to make a go of his coffee shops in Providence, only to see them yanked away from him by a corporation unwilling to help him refinance a $1.5-million loan.