Crone v. Richmond Newspapers, Inc.

In our first opportunity to address Virginia’s Retail Franchising Act, Code §§ 13.1-557 to -574 (the Act), we consider whether a contract for distribution of newspapers from vending machines is a franchise protected under the Act so that damages may be recovered for cancellation of the contract allegedly without reasonable cause.

In 1987, the seven appellants, James P. Crone, II, Pearline F. Gillaspie, William H. Phillips, II, Christopher K. Mudd, Douglas G. Williams, Richard L. Atkinson, and William R. Creekmur (collectively, the distributor) filed virtually identical, separate motions for…