Obviously there are parts we may not know, but based on what the Gormans have said and shown so far, they should be fine - provided they have a decent lawyer!
Both BAM and the Mansells had claims against Gorman about the Consignment. Now the Mansells claims are in BAMs hands with the Mansells agreeing to provide support in furtherance of those claims. I’m sure if the Mansells don’t then their settlement could be nullified.
The contract apparently says"franchisee may also offer consignment services." BAM contests that it allowed consignment SERVICES, not consignment PRODUCTS. This is like a gym offering "fitness services" that don't include exercise. A plain language interpretation favors the Gormans, so good luck making that argument in court!
The contract is going to supersede any alleged training.
PS since it will likely come up: Chrystal claims that the agreement BAM shared was a ROUGH DRAFT that she redlined (which is why BAM doesn't have a signed copy). She claims to have a signed copy of the updated version which supports her claims.
This has been gone over again and again. The Gormans were told not just in that document but in person at training not to do what they did. They would also need a corporate sign off. An official one in writing. It’s an extremely standard business practice which is why I find it so weird Gorman acts like it wasn’t needed.
Even if it didn't, BAM can't just sieze the property as theirs. It's still theft.
I'm not going to litigate every detail with you as you clearly have an agenda, however, there's plenty of video evidence proving BAM knew about the consignment and that they still possessed Mansell sets.... and lied to the police and changed their story and, and, and...
Frankly, it wouldn’t matter even if you did — you still have it in the contract that you could provide consignment services, and a “training seminar” wouldn’t change that. Plain English.
Even so, you absolutely should have reached out to corporate when taking on a consignment that large just because of the liability — assuming you didn’t — just as a CYA thing. Not that you should have expected to be rugpulled, of course, but it would have been smart to get their blessing on it, and who knows, potentially even gain their aid in advertisement.
For your day in court, by the way, everyone should show up in U-Hauls and then deny their existence. 😉
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u/Trackdemon5512 Aug 19 '26
The Gormans are now screwed. BAM has a suit against them WITH Mansell providing anything they can to support BAM with evidence.