Motion to stay and compel mediation / arbitration

This 20-page motion asks the Utah Business and Chancery Court to stay the case and require the parties to mediate and then arbitrate under the franchise agreement's dispute-resolution provisions.

Details

This filing shows the defense position that the dispute belongs first in mediation and, if needed, arbitration rather than continuing directly in court.

Open PDF Download PDF

Document typeMotion to stay and compel mediation / arbitration

Date2026

SourceUtah Business and Chancery Court

People / entitiesChrystal Law; Benjamin Gorman; Bricks & Minifigs Salem 1; Bricks & Minifigs

Pages20 pages

Original fileBricks-and-Minifigs-Case-260200029-Motion-To-Stay-Compel-Mediation-Arbitration.pdf

Searchable text

Clean extracted text or OCR excerpt. Sensitive OCR fields are redacted or omitted.

Wm. Kelly Nash (4888) [email redacted] Justin T. Rich (18519) [email redacted] DENTONS DURHAM JONES PINEGAR, P.C. 1557 W. Innovation Way, Ste 400 Lehi, Utah 84043 Telephone [phone redacted] Facsimile [phone redacted] Attorneys for Defendant Bricks & Minifigs, Inc. IN UTAH BUSINESS AND CHANCERY COURT Bricks & Minifigs SALEM 1, LLC and Oregon limited liability company; CHRYSTAL VERIFIED MOTION TO STAY AND LAW, an individual; BENJAMIN TO COMPEL MEDIATION AND GORMAN, an individual THEN ARBITRATION Plaintiffs, Case No. 260200029 vs. Judge Rita Cornish Bricks & Minifigs FRANCHISING, INC., a Delaware Corporation, Defendant. Defendant Bricks & Minifigs, Inc. (“Bricks & Minifigs”), through counsel and pursuant to Utah Code § 78B-11-108, respectfully submits this Motion to Stay and to Compel Mediation and Then Arbitration (“Motion”). RELIEF REQUESTED AND GROUNDS Plaintiffs Bricks & Minifigs Salem 1, LLC (“Salem LLC”), Chrystal Law (“Chrystal”) and Benjamin Gorman (“Benjamin”) (“Plaintiffs”) filed a Complaint in this action in an attempt to UC_8985636.1 enforce rights under and/or otherwise related to the 2/3/23 Franchise Agreement (“FA”) referenced therein and attached thereto as Exhibit B. However, the FA’s dispute resolution provisions expressly provide that any such disputes between the parties or related to the FA must be resolved, first, through “non-binding mediation” (FA, Section 17 (2)), and second, “if such mediation is not successful . . . by binding arbitration . . . [with] the AAA in Utah County, Utah” (id., at 17 (3). Though expressly requested by Bricks & Minifigs, Plaintiffs have refused to produce requested records relating to and to engage in a good faith mediation, much less proceed with the expressly required AAA Arbitration, electing to improperly adjudicate the contract dispute in this Court. Accordingly, Bricks & Minifigs requests that the Court stay these judicial proceedings and compel the parties to first mediate in good faith, and if necessary thereafter, to engage in a binding arbitration with AAA. BACKGROUND 1. Bricks & Minifigs is the corporate franchisor of a national “Bricks & Minifigs” franchise system, which grants private franchises to independent and authorized operators of retail stores throughout the United States specializing in the purchase, sale and trade of LEGO® products, including new, used and collectible sets and minifigures in accordance with Bricks & Minifigs’s governing contracts, policies and procedures. 2. Chrystal was initially employed as a corporate store manager for Bricks & Minifigs. During her tenure, she expressed interest in becoming a private franchisee, as the owner (with her husband, Benjamin) of Salem LLC and individually, and in purchasing the Salem Oregon store that she had been managing as a corporate store prior thereto. Bricks & Minifigs agreed to her proposed private franchisee affiliation and purchase transaction and within Bricks & Minifigs’s established franchise agreement structure pursuant to the terms of the 2/6/23 Franchise UC_8985636.1 Agreement between Bricks & Minifigs and Salem LLC (see FA, attached as Exhibit B to Complaint) and a 2/2/23 Business and Asset Purchase Agreement (“APA”) between Bricks & Minifigs and Chrystal and Benjamin. (See APA, attached as Exhibit C to Complaint) 3. The APA confirmed a Closing Date of 2/2/23 in Section 4.1, directed that Utah law governed in Section 10.3 and required Chrystal and Benjamin to timely pay purchase price installments, royalties and other consideration, to obtain landlord consent to a lease assignment for Salem LLC, to coordinate account transfers, among other obligations for the purchase in Sections 2 and 3. 4. The FA similarly required Salem LLC to make certain payments, including an initial franchise fee and monthly royalty payments. 5. Despite the requirements contained in the APA and FA, Chrystal and Benjamin materially breached their obligations under both the APA and FA by, among other things, failing to make required APA payments and FA royalty payments. Chrystal’s outstanding contractual obligations mounted, eventually exceeding an estimated $175,000. 6. Based upon the foregoing uncured breaches, Bricks & Minifigs, inter alia, issued a written 11/14/24 notice and thereby terminated the FA, repossessed the Salem LLC store and assets, and assumed the lease, as expressly permitted under the FA and APA, including any and all fixtures, inventory and other assets, and credited an estimated $30,000 and the paltry value thereof as an offset to the unpaid estimated $175,000 debt. 7. Given Salem LLC’s failure to make payments under the FA and APA, Bricks & Minifigs’s termination of the franchise was carried out pursuant to and consistent with Section 14.A of the FA, which provides that Salem LLC is in “material breach and deemed to be in default of this Agreement, and this Agreement will automatically terminate without notice, at [Bricks & Minifigs’s] UC_8985636.1

The complaint and police documents contain allegations and records, not final findings unless a court order says so. Read each source according to its own terms.