Lee v. GNC Franchising, Inc.

MEMORANDUM *

General Nutrition Center franchisees Kevin Lee, Jeniffer Lee, and Nature’s Gem, Inc. (collectively, the Lees) appeal the summary judgment in favor of General Nutrition Center and its affiliate companies (GNC). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm in part and reverse in part.

The district court properly upheld the Pennsylvania choice-of-law provisions contained in the Lees’ renewal franchise agreements. Neither statute nor public policy is to the contrary; the releases do not affect the Lees’ CFIL claims.

The general releases contained in the renewal agreements bar the Lees’ nonCFIL claims against GNC. The 1999 Westside release is not overly broad, and the Lees fail to raise a genuine issue of material fact that it was fraudulently induced. Even assuming the representations upon which they rely are more than predictions of what the future may hold, the evidence fails to suggest that GNC never intended to perform.

Regardless of whether the original franchise agreements are contracts of adhesion, the release-for-renewal requirements cannot have been contrary to the Lees’ reasonable expectations, nor are the terms so unconscionable as to…