MI-BOX of North Florida, LLC v. MI-BOX Holding Company et al

Filing 56

///ORDER granting 50 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim. Accordingly, defendant's partial motion to dismiss (document no. 50) is granted and count five of plaintiff's complaint is dismissed for failure to state a viable claim. So Ordered by Judge Steven J. McAuliffe.(lw)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
MI-BOX of North Florida, LLC,
Plaintiff
v.

Case No. 24-cv-0253-SM-AJ
Opinion No. 2024 DNH 102

MI-BOX Florida, LLC,
Defendant

O R D E R
MI-BOX of North Florida (“MBNF”) originally filed this case
in the Florida state circuit court and it was removed to the
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Subsequently, defendant MI-BOX Florida (“MI-BOX”) invoked the
forum selection clause in one of the parties’ contracts and
moved to transfer the claims against it to this court.

The

district court in Florida agreed and transferred plaintiff’s
claims against MI-BOX to this forum.

Pending before the court is MI-BOX’s motion to dismiss
count five of plaintiff’s complaint, in which MBNF alleges that
MI-BOX violated Florida’s Sale of Business Opportunity Act, Fla.

Stat. § 559.801, et seq.

MBNF objects.

For the reasons

discussed, that partial motion to dismiss is granted.

Standard of Review
When considering a motion to dismiss, the court accepts all
well-pleaded facts alleged in the complaint as true, disregards
legal labels and conclusions, and resolves reasonable inferences
in the plaintiff’s favor.

See Galvin v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 852

F.3d 146, 155 (1st Cir. 2017).

The court may also consider

documents referenced by or incorporated into the complaint.

See

Kando v. Rhode Island State Bd. of Elections, 880 F.3d 53, 56
(1st Cir. 2018).

To avoid dismissal, the complaint must allege sufficient
facts to support a “plausible” claim for relief.
v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009).

See Ashcroft

To satisfy that

plausibility standard, the factual allegations in the complaint,
along with reasonable inferences, must show more than a mere
possibility of liability – that is, “a formulaic recitation of
the elements of a cause of action will not do.”
v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007).

Bell Atl. Corp.

See also Lyman v. Baker,

954 F.3d 351, 359–60 (1st Cir. 2020) (“For the purposes of our
[12(b)(6)] review, we isolate and ignore statements in the
complaint that simply offer legal labels and conclusions or
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merely rehash cause-of-action elements.”) (citation and internal
punctuation omitted).

In other words, the complaint must include well-pled (i.e.,
non-conclusory, non-speculative) factual allegations as to each
of the essential elements of a viable claim that, if assumed to
be true, allow the court to draw the reasonable and plausible
inference that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief sought.
See Tasker v. DHL Retirement Savings Plan, 621 F.3d 34, 38-39
(1st Cir. 2010).

Background
According to the complaint, MI-BOX “is a business that
offers and sells distinctive storage and moving services,
featuring the use of proprietary lift systems, portable storage
boxes, as well as related products and services, all using
certain proprietary marks and a system.”
no. 9) at para. 6.

Complaint (document

In March of 2021, the parties signed a

“Dealership Agreement,” pursuant to which MI-BOX agreed to sell
and MBNF agreed to acquire “a MI-BOX Dealership within the State
of Florida.”

MBNF also signed a “MI-BOX Equipment Purchase and

Trademark License Agreement” which established the terms under
which it would purchase MI-BOX equipment and utilize MI-BOX
trademarks and service marks.
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MBNF’s claims turn largely on its assertion that although
the parties’ contracts might suggest otherwise, it actually
purchased a MI-BOX “franchise” (rather than a “dealership”).
And, says MBNF, because it purchased a franchise, MI-BOX was
obligated (but failed) to comply with various state and federal
laws governing the sale of franchises.

In count five of its complaint, however, MBNF advances a
slightly different claim that does not require a determination
of whether it purchased a “dealership” or a “franchise.”
Instead, count five turns on whether MBNF purchased from MI-BOX
a “business opportunity,” as that phrase is defined by Florida
law.

See generally Sale of Business Opportunity Act, Fla. Stat.

§ 559.801, et seq. (the “FSBOA”).

According to MBNF, the

“Dealership Agreement and the Purchase Agreement offered to
[MBNF] by [MI-BOX] constitute business opportunities under
Florida law.”

Complaint at para. 63.

Moreover, says MBNF, MI-

BOX failed to provide it with several disclosure statements that
are required by the FSBOA whenever a “purchaser signs a business
opportunity contract.”

Fla. Stat. § 559.803.

Plainly, then, the viability of that claim hinges on
whether the rights and interests plaintiff purchased from MI-BOX
meet the statutory definition of a “business opportunity” under
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Florida law.

As it applies to this particular case, the phrase

“business opportunity” means:
the sale or lease of any products, equipment,
supplies, or services which are sold or leased to a
purchaser to enable the purchaser to start a business
for which the purchaser is required to pay an initial
fee or sum of money which exceeds $500 to the seller,
and in which the seller represents:
***

(4) That the seller will provide a sales program
or marketing program that will enable the
purchaser to derive income from the business
opportunity.
Fla. Stat. § 559.801(1)(a)(4) (emphasis supplied).

See also

Complaint at para. 62 (invoking the “sales program or marketing
program” provision of the FSBOA).

There is, however, an

exception to that subsection of the statute which provides that,
this paragraph does not apply to the sale of a sales
program or marketing program made in conjunction with
the licensing of a trademark or service mark that is
registered under the laws of any state or of the
United States if the seller requires use of the
trademark or service mark in the sales agreement.
Id.
In response to MBNF’s invocation of the Florida Sale of
Business Opportunity Act, MI-BOX says two things.

First, it

notes that nowhere in the contracts between the parties is MIBOX obligated to provide MBNF with a “sales program” or a
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“marketing program.”

Moreover, and perhaps more importantly,

the complaint lacks any such allegations.

Consequently, says

MI-BOX, the rights and interests purchased by plaintiff do not
meet the statutory definition of a “business opportunity,” the
FSBOA has no application, and count five of the complaint fails
to state a viable claim.

Second, MI-BOX says that even if the court were to construe
the transaction between the parties as one involving the
purchase and sale of a “business opportunity,” the exception set
forth in section 559.801(1)(a)(4) would render the FSBOA
inapplicable to this particular situation.

As noted above, that

exception provides that, “this paragraph does not apply to the
sale of a sales program or marketing program made in conjunction
with the licensing of a trademark or service mark that is
registered under the laws of any state or of the United States
if the seller requires use of the trademark or service mark in
the sales agreement.” (emphasis supplied).

While there appears to be little precedent discussing this
issue, at least one court has addressed the “sales or marketing
program” exception to the FSBOA.

See Barnes v. Burger King

Corp., 932 F. Supp. 1420 (S.D. Fla 1996).

In Barnes, the United

States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
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concluded that the sale of a Burger King franchise to the
plaintiff “made in conjunction with the licensing of a
[registered] trademark or service mark” was excepted from the
provisions of the FSBOA by section 559.801(1)(a)(4).
1434.

Id. at

Citing Barnes, the United States District Court for the

Northern District of Georgia reached a similar conclusion when
addressing the sale of a business franchise under the analogous
“Georgia Sale of Business Opportunities Act,” O.C.G.A. § 10-1410, et seq.

See Am. Casual Dining, LLP v. Moe’s Southwest

Grill, LLC, 426 F. Supp 2d 1356 (N.D. Ga. 2006) (“[T]he sale at
issue here is clearly excepted from the GSBOA definition of
‘business opportunity.’

It is undisputed that the sales and

marketing programs associated with the Moe’s franchise system
were provided to American Casual in conjunction with the
licensing of registered trademarks and service marks.”).

So it is in this case.

Indeed, the court need not resolve

whether MI-BOX was obligated to provide MBNF with a sales or
marketing program because, even assuming it was, it is plain
that such a commitment was made in “conjunction with the
licensing of a [registered] trademark or service mark.”
Consequently, this particular transaction is specifically
exempted from the scope of the FSBOA.

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MBNF’s argument to the contrary misses the mark.

It says

the sale of a franchise (assuming this was such a sale) is only
exempt from the provisions of the FSBOA if the requirements of
Fla. Stat. § 559.802(1) are met.

That section of the FSBOA

broadly exempts from its scope the sale of any franchise that
meets the Federal Trade Commission’s definition of “franchise,”
provided the franchisor has made certain filings with the
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Because MI-BOX never made such filings, MBNF asserts that it is
not exempt from the FSBOA.

The court disagrees.

That the transaction between the parties is not broadly
exempted from the provisions of the FSBOA by section 559.802(1)
does not preclude the possibility that it is specifically
exempted by the “trademark or service mark” exclusion of section
559.801(1)(a)(4).

In other words, the relevant inquiry is not

whether MI-BOX generally complied with Florida and/or FTC rules
governing the sale of franchises, but rather whether the
transaction between the parties meets the statutory definition
of “business opportunity.”

It does not.

Conclusion
It is unlikely that the parties’ contracts obligate MI-BOX
to provide MBNF with any sort of sales or marketing program
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(plaintiff’s arguments on that point are not particularly
compelling).

It is, therefore, unlikely that the FSBOA applies

to this transaction at all.

But, even assuming that MI-BOX was

obligated to provide MBNF with a sales or marketing program,
such a program was plainly being sold “in conjunction with the
licensing of a [registered] trademark or service mark” and,
therefore, the transaction is exempt from the provisions of the
FSBOA.

Fla. Stat. § 559.801(1)(a)(4).

In either scenario, the

FSBOA does not apply to this particular circumstance.
Accordingly, defendant’s partial motion to dismiss (document no.
50) is granted and count five of plaintiff’s complaint is
dismissed for failure to state a viable claim.
SO ORDERED.
____________________________
Steven J. McAuliffe
United States District Judge
November 25, 2024
cc:

Counsel of Record

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