The owner, Guillermo Perales, was sued by Burger King corporate and terminated from ownership at 37 of his total 300 Burger King locations after rodents were discovered in one.

Burger King franchisee Guillermo Perales is pushing back against a corporate lawsuit that was leveled at him last week after rodents were discovered in one of his Burger King locations, according to an article in Restaurant Business.

“Robert Zarco, attorney for franchisee Guillermo Perales, accused the franchisor of ‘bullying’ his client in a bid to get him to sell restaurants in other markets to another franchisee. Perales is one of the country’s biggest franchisees. He owns about 300 Burger King locations in multiple states. He also operates Arby’s and Krispy Kreme, and recently acquired Taco Bueno,” the article said.

According to the article, Perales said “the restaurant had been cleaned and fumigated and received perfect marks from local health inspectors,” following last week’s discovery of rodents. Zarco called the termination of Perales’ ownership of 37 locations after rodents were discovered in a single restaurant “an improper and wrong termination,” the article said.

Zarco further argued that the termination of Perales’ ownership rights were part of a growing effort by the franchisor Burger King to “get Perales to sell his Burger King locations in other markets to operators more willing to add locations,” according to the article, and that “Burger King has to latch onto any opportunity they can to force the client out,” per Zarco as stated in the article.

Read the full article here.