Snyder's-Lance Facing Franchisees' Class Action Over NJFPA Infractions

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against S-L Distribution Company—known more commonly as Snyder’s-Lance—claiming the snack maker violated the New Jersey Franchise Practices Act (NJFPA) by illegally severing its business contracts with proposed class members without cause. The plaintiff, a distributor and retailer of snack food products made by Snyder’s-Lance Incorporated, says he and similarly situated franchisees were “terminated as part of S-L’s system-wide, no-cause termination of franchisees” despite regulations set forth by the NJFPA, a law meant to protect franchisees in such situations.

The plaintiff claims the defendant wrongfully terminated dozens of Snyder’s-Lance franchises throughout New Jersey, thereby eliminating the operators’ livelihoods and forcing them “to sell back the exclusive distributorship to S-L for a substantially lower price than the lucrative franchise” is truly worth.

The proposed class covers anyone who operated out of a warehouse in New Jersey who were party to a distributor agreement with Snyder’s-Lance as of November 1, 2011 and who was terminated as part of the defendant’s recent distributor purge.