H & R Block Tax Services LLC v. Franklin, et al., No. 11-3690 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseH&R Block appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants. At issue was whether H&R Block had the right to terminate two franchise agreements between the parties where the agreements expressly stated that defendants could terminate at any time but only affirmatively allowed H&R Block to terminate for cause. Because the court found under de novo review that the language of the contracts did not unequivocally express the parties' intent for the contracts to last forever, the court reversed the judgment.
Court Description: Civil case - Franchise law. Where the franchise agreements provided that the defendants could terminate at any time but only affirmatively allowed Block to terminate for cause, the contracts did not unequivocally express the parties' intent for the contracts to last forever, and the district court erred in finding that the language was to be interpreted so that the agreements would continue in perpetuity unless the franchisee chose to terminate or Block terminated for cause. Judge Smith, dissenting.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.