INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 30, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Noble Roman's, Inc. (OTCBB:NROM), the Indianapolis based, non-traditional franchisor and licensor of Noble Roman's Pizza and Tuscano's Italian Style Subs, today announced that in an Order by the Hamilton Superior Court I filed January 26, 2012 in the long-standing lawsuit by certain former franchisees, Noble Roman's was granted partial summary judgment as to liability against the Plaintiffs/Counter-Defendants on the company's counterclaims against them. As a result of this partial summary judgment, the Court determined that certain of the former franchisees of Noble Roman's, Inc. were liable to the company for direct damages and consequential damages, including net loss future royalties, for breach of their franchise agreements. In addition, the Court determined that, as a matter of law, Noble Roman's was entitled to recover attorneys fees associated with obtaining preliminary injunctions, fees resulting from the prosecution of Noble Roman's counterclaims and fees for defending against fraud claims against the company and certain of its officers. The amount of the award is to be determined at trial.
The company was a Defendant in a lawsuit styled Kari Heyser, Fred Eric Heyser and Meck Enterprises, LLC, et al v. Noble Roman's, Inc. et al, filed in Superior Court in Hamilton County, Indiana on June 19, 2008 (Cause No. 29D01 0806 PL 739). The Court issued an Order dated December 23, 2010 granting summary judgment in favor of the company against all of the Plaintiffs allegations of fraud. As a result, the Plaintiffs' allegations of fraud against the company and certain of its officers were determined to be without merit. Plaintiffs previously filed numerous motions, including an appeal to the Indiana Court of Appeals, in an attempt to get the December 23, 2010 summary judgment order reversed. All of those attempts have failed, including the Indiana Court of Appeals which dismissed the appeal with prejudice. Plaintiffs' last attempt to get the summary judgment award vacated was their attempt to vacate the Order on the grounds of misconduct of third parties. On December 1, 2011, the Judge issued an Order denying their request and specifically found "that there was absolutely no evidence of misconduct and the Court admonished Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs' counsel for making such unfounded allegations." The fraud charges against the company and certain of its officers have been dismissed entirely, and Plaintiffs have no appeal rights remaining.
The Complaint was originally against the company and certain officers and institutional lenders. The Plaintiffs are former franchisees of the company's traditional location venue. The Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendants fraudulently induced them to purchase franchises for traditional locations through misrepresentations and omissions of material facts regarding the franchises. In addition to the above claims, one franchisee/Plaintiff in the case asserted a separate claim under the Indiana Franchise Act as to which the Court's Order denied the company's motion for summary judgment, as the Court determined that there is a genuine issue of material fact, but did not render any opinion on the merits of the claim. The company denies liability on the Indiana Franchise Act claim and will continue to vigorously prosecute its defenses against the claim.
The company filed counterclaims for damages for breach of contract against all of the Plaintiffs in the approximate amount of $3.6 million plus attorney's fees, interest and other cost of collection, or a total of over $5 million. As a result of the Order filed January 26, 2012, the company's partial summary judgment motions were granted as to specific types of damages such as past fees, future fees, attorney's fees and interest. The amount of the damages awarded to the company will be determined at trial.
The statements contained in this press release concerning the company's future revenues, profitability, financial resources, market demand and product development are forward-looking statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) relating to the company that are based on the beliefs of the management of the company, as well as assumptions and estimates made by and information currently available to the company's management. The company's actual results in the future may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties that exist in the company's operations and business environment, including, but not limited to, market acceptance of recently introduced products, competitive factors and pricing pressures, the current litigation with certain former traditional franchisees, non-renewal of franchise agreements, shifts in market demand, compliance with the terms of the company's bank credit agreement, general economic conditions and other factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand for the company's products or franchises, the success or failure of individual franchisees and changes in prices or supplies of food ingredients and labor as well. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions or estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or intended. The company undertakes no obligations to update the information in this press release for subsequent events.