The commissioner in his discretion may honor requests from interested persons for interpretive opinions.
Franchise Investment LawGeneral Provisions
Section § 31510
The commissioner has the option to respond to requests from people who want an official explanation or interpretation of certain financial regulations.
commissioner interpretive opinions requests
Section § 31511
This law section says that if someone acts in good faith following a rule, order, or opinion from the commissioner or Attorney General, they will not be held liable, even if that guidance later changes or is found invalid.
No provision of this law imposing any liability applies to any act done or omitted in good faith in conformity with any rule, form, order, or any written interpretive opinion of the commissioner, or any opinion of the Attorney General, notwithstanding that the rule, form, order, or written interpretive opinion may later be amended or rescinded or be determined by judicial or other authority to be invalid for any reason.
good faith compliance liability immunity commissioner rule
Section § 31512
This law says that if a franchise agreement tries to make someone give up their rights to follow the law or any related rules or orders, that part of the agreement is invalid and won't be enforced.
Any condition, stipulation or provision purporting to bind any person acquiring any franchise to waive compliance with any provision of this law or any rule or order hereunder is void.
franchise agreement waive compliance invalid provision
Section § 31512.1
This law says that if a franchise agreement or related documents try to deny any statements made by the franchisor or claim that a franchisee can't rely on those statements, those parts of the documents are not valid. Basically, if the franchisor or their people make claims to a prospective franchisee, or if a franchisee depends on the information in the franchise disclosure, the law protects the franchisee's right to rely on what they are told. Any attempt to waive these rights is automatically void.
Any provision of a franchise agreement, franchise disclosure document, acknowledgment, questionnaire, or other writing, including any exhibit thereto, disclaiming or denying any of the following shall be deemed contrary to public policy and shall be void and unenforceable:
(a)CA Corporations Code § 31512.1(a) Representations made by the franchisor or its personnel or agents to a prospective franchisee.
(b)CA Corporations Code § 31512.1(b) Reliance by a franchisee on any representations made by the franchisor or its personnel or agents.
(c)CA Corporations Code § 31512.1(c) Reliance by a franchisee on the franchise disclosure document, including any exhibit thereto.
(d)CA Corporations Code § 31512.1(d) Violations of any provision of this division.
franchise agreement disclaimer representations
Section § 31513
This law states that if someone is supposed to have a hearing under certain government procedures, they might instead have a formal hearing directly with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. This can happen only if both the person involved and the commissioner agree. Once this department hearing occurs, the person can't seek any more administrative reviews or appeals.
Whenever a person is entitled under this law to a hearing in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, a formal hearing before the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation may be substituted with the consent of such person and of the commissioner for such hearing before an independent hearing officer; and in that case after such hearing before the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation such person shall not be entitled to any further administrative remedy.
hearing before Department of Financial Protection and Innovation formal hearing consent of commissioner
Section § 31514
This section basically says that if one part of the law is found to be invalid or doesn't apply, it won't affect the rest of the law. The other parts can still work independently and are designed to stand on their own.
If any provision of this law or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this law which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this law are declared to be severable.
severability validity provision independence
Section § 31515
This section states that for any legal cases based on events that happened before the new law took effect, the old law will still apply. Basically, if something happened before the new law, the rules at that time continue to govern any legal actions taken.
Prior law exclusively governs all suits, actions, prosecutions or proceedings which are pending or may be initiated on the basis of facts or circumstances occurring before the effective date of this law.
prior law application pending suits prior circumstances
Section § 31516
This section makes it clear that the rules under the Real Estate Law still apply when selling or leasing real estate, regardless of what this law says.
Nothing in this law is intended to preclude the applicability of the Real Estate Law, Part 1 (commencing with Section 10000), Division 4 of the Business and Professions Code, to any sale or lease of real property.
real estate transactions property lease property sale
