Dunkin's Gluck Deposition Not Forthcoming
Caldeira's statement was as follows:
"The franchises of Cindy Gluck and Asam Habib were terminated because they transferred an interest in one of their stores and knowingly concealed it from Dunkin' Brands, Inc. (the franchisor) with fraudulent documents which is entitled to know who owns its licenses per the franchise agreement.
After the fraud was detected, Cindy Gluck confessed in a letter to the franchisor. As a result of that confession, Ms. Gluck was deposed under oath and denied the contents of her own letter.
As is the case with all franchisees that have been terminated, Ms. Gluck and Mr. Habib have been offered an opportunity to sell their stores rather than lose their franchises as part of the termination process. As a franchisor, we seek to retain locations when a franchisee is terminated. As part of that process, field personnel naturally discuss (as part of their collective responsibility) what will potentially happen to the store locations as a result of the litigation.
To be clear, there is absolutely no evidence in the emails to suggest the termination was pre-textual (sic), and any such characterization is misguided, wrong and irresponsible. To reiterate, Dunkin' Brands does not enter into litigation with franchisees unless there is clear cause, which was unequivocally the case with Ms. Gluck and Mr. Habib, end of story."
As reported in the Smoking Gun Email article (below), Blue MauMau had planned to attach the Gluck deposition after acquiring it from Dunkin' Brands. But in requesting a copy of the transcript, Caldeira stated that if it was part of the public record, Blue MauMau should be able to obtain a copy. If not, he suggested requesting it from Gluck's attorney, David Jaroslawicz. He added that in addition to Gluck's deposition, Blue MauMau should ask him for the depositions of "the people that Ms. Gluck purportedly transferred interest to, received money from and then never returned."
But according to Jaroslawicz the depositions were not filed in court by Dunkin's attorneys. He said, "They are not a public record, as Mr. Caldeira well knows. Dunkin' attorneys have not yet provided me with a copy of the deposition, which they should under the rules." Jaroslawicz adds, "I do not have the deposition of the other people that Mr. Caldeira refers to, but those are the people that Cindy Gluck planned to sell an interest to, and which apparently fell apart, and is the reason Dunkin' is seeking to terminate Cindy's franchise."
As another update, Blue MauMau has not been able to reach Konstantino Skrivanos, a Dunkin' multi-unit operator who was named in the "smoking gun" emails related to the termination of Cindy Gluck and business partner Asam Habib. It has been reported in the media that Skrivanos now owns at least 12 Dunkin' stores in the Brooklyn area and approximately 100 on the east coast.
According to court records, attorneys for Dunkin' Donuts and franchisees Gluck and Habib are currently in court settlement conferences.
Related reading:
- Dunkin' Donuts Mom and Pops Squeezed Out by Private Equity Firms
- Smoking Gun Emails Billow Dark Cloud over Dunkin' Brands
- Franchise topic:
