Recent Victories: YUM! Ordered to Produce Documents and Witness and to Pay Fees and Costs

June 15, 2014

A federal court in Louisville, Kentucky handed our client a double victory in a recent dispute with YUM!, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Our client, Janko Enterprises, sued YUM! and its subsidiary Long John Silvers for misrepresentations in connection with the sale of an LJS franchise to Janko. We contended that, among other things, YUM had misled our clients by failing to disclose that YUM! intended to dispose of the LJS chain at the time that our client was buying.

We had asked YUM! to produce for a deposition a witness knowledgeable about YUM!’s intent to dispose of LJS. When we got to the deposition, however, YUM! tried to throw a curveball, and produced a witness who not only lacked personal knowledge, but had made no effort to find out about the sale of LJS.

We took the matter to court and the judge agreed with us, requiring YUM! to produce a witness with knowledge of the topics that we had asked for as well as documents relating to the sale. In addition, in an extraordinary move, the court required YUM! to pay our costs in connection with retaking the deposition. We were happy to bring justice to our client. When you need to go up against a major international corporation, just give us a call.