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Pizza Hut's largest U.S. franchisee, NPC International, settled a complaint under the Americans with Disabilities Act ('ADA') on March 28 that will result in extensive remedial work at many of NPC's 775 franchised restaurants. Under the agreement, NPC will ensure proper accessibility of all of its Pizza Hut properties for parking lots, entrances, seating areas, bathrooms, self-service counters, and other spaces and elements. It will also survey and evaluate all NPC-owned facilities that are subject to the ADA's more stringent new construction and alterations standards at the time of their construction or alteration, bring them into full compliance, and incorporate training of personnel and store managers for future compliance.

In this Q&amp;A, FBLA talks with Robert Boulter and Ryan Knoll, the founders of FranchisePundit.com, a blog and discussion forum that covers business and legal issues in franchising. Since its inception in April 2005, visitor traffic to Franchise Pundit (www.franchisepundit.com) has grown exponentially, as franchisees, prospective franchisees, and franchisors read and respond to its no-nonsense, practical advice and observations.

A growing number of lawsuits are alleging that aviation companies are dumping old and unsafe airplanes on Third World countries. Some of the suits charge the companies with leasing planes to startup airlines that lack proper training to operate them safely. In Chicago, a lawsuit is set to go to trial against an Illinois aviation company alleging that it knowingly leased an old and defective plane to a company in the Philippines, where the 22-year-old plane crashed in 2000, killing 131 people.

Is it possible to defame an inanimate object such as a plane, or a house, or a painting? Surprisingly, the answer to this question is 'yes.' This sort of claim, which is generically captured by the designation 'commercial disparagement,' has, on occasion, been pursued successfully at trial involving 'hard' assets and can even be employed when the damages are more prospective than actual. The tort falls generally within the penumbra of libel and slander-related claims, but has been overshadowed by the more commonly recognized types of claims asserted against individuals or corporate entities rather than tangible objects. Commercial disparagement claims, when understood, are a useful line of defense to an asset owner ' as well as a hazard for those unaware of the claim's contours.

Recent rulings of interest.

<b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Series.</i></b> Part One of this article discussed lease forms and standard clauses; federal appropriation of funds; rental payments; and lease language that provides for the award of attorneys' fees to the 'prevailing party' in a law-suit. The conclusion addresses alterations and dispute resolution.

Once the simplest of lease provisions, common area maintenance ('CAM') expense provisions have grown quite complex. In the past, a CAM provision might simply provide: The tenant shall pay its pro rata share of the expenses of maintaining the common areas of the property. Maybe there was another sentence or two ' even a paragraph ' describing the types of expenses and the method of estimating, paying, and reconciling that share of expenses. Then some wunderkind invented the personal computer and the 60-page lease. Now landlords have multi-page, 'throw in the kitchen sink' CAM provisions and tenants attempt to gut every word of them.

<b><i>Part One of a Two-Part Series.</i></b> For more than a decade, law enforcement agencies across the country have struggled with allegations of racial profiling. Many of the country's large law enforcement agencies have been sued for alleged racial profiling. These agencies include the California Highway Patrol, the Ohio Highway patrol and the Illinois State Police. The results of these lawsuits have been mixed. Some agencies, such as the Illinois State Police, prevailed, and many other agencies reached settlements. These suits were extremely expensive to litigate, and the settlements were, at times, just as expensive. Regardless of the outcome of the litigation, however, the damage caused by these allegations was massive. The citizens' trust and confidence instilled in these departments, if it existed at all in recent times, was breached. The damage occurred, in large part, because perception is often as important as ' or more important than ' reality. Although the phenomenon of racial profiling undoubtedly exists, all agencies and their personnel become tainted, whether fairly or not, with the stigma resulting from the actions of a few.

Analysis and information on key cases.