UIC Law Review Volume 47 Issue 2 Annual Kratovil Symposium on Real Article 13 Estate Law & Practice Winter 2013 Run through the Wringer: How Cleaning Industry Franchisors Exploit Franchisees' Hope for an American Dream, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 827 (2013) John Dunne Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.uic.edu/lawreview Part of the Business Organizations Law Commons, Civil Procedure Commons, and the Property Law and Real Estate Commons Recommended Citation John Dunne, Run through the Wringer: How Cleaning Industry Franchisors Exploit Franchisees' Hope for an American Dream, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 827 (2013) https://repository.law.uic.edu/lawreview/vol47/iss2/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UIC Law Open Access Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UIC Law Review by an authorized administrator of UIC Law Open Access Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. RUN THROUGH THE WRINGER: HOW CLEANING INDUSTRY FRANCHISORS EXPLOIT FRANCHISEES' HOPE FOR AN AMERICAN DREAM JOHN R. DUNNE* I. INTRODUCTION Stratus Building Solutions worked its way to the top by offering their franchisees an environmentally friendly cleaning service, pursuing accounts with large commercial office buildings.' It was the fastest-growing franchise in 2011 and 2012.2 Recently, franchisees are accusing Stratus of operating a fraudulent pyramid scheme-calling Stratus' successes into question.3 Their franchisees filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Stratus in 2012.4 Guadalupe Clemente, a representative plaintiff in the class action, owned one of the unit franchises that she claims was part of Stratus's pyramid scheme.5 Her petition asserts that Stratus has developed a system of using Master Franchisees to exploit unit * J.D.