Franchisee applicants sought declaratory relief under Rule 14 alleging the franchisor failed to provide statutory disclosure required under the Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000 and Alberta’s Franchises Act in connection with three restaurant franchises.
They sought rescission of the franchise agreements and recovery of invested funds.
The court found that the central issue—whether disclosure was actually provided and when—turned on sharply conflicting affidavit evidence and credibility disputes.
Because these issues required viva voce evidence and credibility findings, they could not be resolved on an application.
The court ordered that the application proceed to trial and be treated as an action, with damages and disclosure adequacy issues to be determined at trial.
