Title: Window World of Baton Rouge, LLC v. Window World, Inc

State: north-carolina

Issuer: North Carolina Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA 
2021-NCSC-70 
No. 436A19 
Filed 11 June 2021 
WINDOW WORLD OF BATON ROUGE, LLC, ET AL. 
 
 
v. 
WINDOW WORLD, INC., ET AL. 
_____________________________________________ 
WINDOW WORLD OF ST. LOUIS, INC., ET AL. 
 
                      v. 
 
WINDOW WORLD, INC., ET AL. 
 
Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(a)(3) from an order and opinion on 
Window World defendants’ motions to compel and motion to strike plaintiffs’ 
objections to third-party subpoenas entered on 26 September 2018, from an order and 
opinion on Window World, Inc.’s motion to compel net worth information entered on 
19 December 2018, from an order and opinion on Window World defendants’ motion 
for reconsideration entered on 25 January 2019, and from an order and opinion on 
plaintiffs’ privilege motions, Window World defendants’ motion to strike, and the 
parties’ Rule 53(g) exceptions to the special master’s report entered on 16 August 
2019 by Judge Louis A. Bledsoe III, Chief Business Court Judge, in Superior Court, 
Wilkes County, after the case was designated a mandatory complex business case by 
WINDOW WORLD OF BATON ROUGE, LLC V. WINDOW WORLD, INC. 
 
WINDOW WORLD OF ST. LOUIS, INC. V. WINDOW WORLD, INC. 
2021-NCSC-70 
Opinion of the Court 
 
 
 
the Chief Justice pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4(b). Heard in the Supreme Court on 
28 April 2021. 
 
Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., by Charles E. Coble, 
Robert J. King III, Benjamin R. Norman, and Andrew L. Rodenbough, for 
plaintiff-appellees. 
 
Fox Rothschild LLP, by Matthew Nis Leerberg, Kip D. Nelson, and Troy D. 
Shelton; and Manning, Fulton & Skinner, P.A., by Michael T. Medford, Judson 
A. Welborn, Natalie M. Rice, and Jessica B. Vickers, for defendant-appellants. 
 
Joseph S. Dowdy for BNI Franchising, LLC, Brixx Franchise Systems, LLC, 
East Coast Wings Corporation, Extended Stay America, Inc., Fleet Feet, 
Incorporated (d/b/a Fleet Feet), Golden Corral Franchising System, Inc., N2 
Franchising, Inc., Salsarita’s Franchising, LLC, Village Juice Co. Franchising, 
LLC, and Wine & Design Franchise LLC; and Richard M. Hutson II for Family 
Fare, LLC, amici curiae. 
 
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, by Corby C. Anderson and Jonathan E. 
Schulz, for International Franchise Association, amicus curiae. 
 
 
PER CURIAM. 
 
¶ 1 
 
This interlocutory appeal from the order and opinion entered on 16 August 
2019 is affirmed per curiam. 
¶ 2 
 
Defendant-appellants’ appeal from the order and opinion entered on 19 
December 2018 based on the claim that the net worth of an individual who owns and 
controls a business operating as a franchisee is necessary to apply the large 
franchisee exemption pursuant to 16 C.F.R. § 436.8(a)(5)(ii) is not properly before this 
WINDOW WORLD OF BATON ROUGE, LLC V. WINDOW WORLD, INC. 
 
WINDOW WORLD OF ST. LOUIS, INC. V. WINDOW WORLD, INC. 
2021-NCSC-70 
Opinion of the Court 
 
 
 
Court, and it is hereby dismissed.1 
AFFIRMED.2 
 
1 Defendant-appellants did not present or discuss any issues in their brief pertaining 
to the order and opinion on Window World defendants’ motions to compel and motion to strike 
plaintiffs’ objections to third-party subpoenas entered on 26 September 2018 and the order 
and opinion on Window World defendants’ motion for reconsideration entered on 25 January 
2019. Thus, defendant-appellants have abandoned all corresponding arguments. See N.C. R. 
App. P. 28(a) (“The scope of review on appeal is limited to issues so presented in the several 
briefs. Issues not presented and discussed in a party’s brief are deemed abandoned.”). 
2 The order and opinion of the North Carolina Business Court, 2019 NCBC 53, is 
available at https://www.nccourts.gov/assets/documents/opinions/2019_NCBC_53.pdf.