Ameriprise Financial and American Express Company breached the franchise agreements in place with investment advisors because when American Express spun out Ameriprise it did not allow the investment advisors to retain the American Express brand name.

This is an ongoing investigation and pending class action lawsuit against American Express Company and Amerirpise Financial Inc. on behalf of current and former Ameriprise (NYSE: AMP) investment advisor franchisees (“Ameriprise Investment Advisor Franchisees”).

The Ameriprise Investment Advisor Franchisees allege that when Ameriprise was “spun off” from American Express Company, the Ameriprise Investment Advisor Franchisees as franchisees were deprived of the use of a well-recognized brand name, as required by their franchise agreements. The class action seeks remedies as a result of the breach of contract and violations of the Minnesota Franchise Act.

Specifically, the class action complaint alleges that Ameriprise breached its franchise agreements when it replaced the American Express brand affiliation with the new “Ameriprise” brand, an unknown in the marketplace. The class action lawsuit further alleges that American Express Company unlawfully interfered with the franchise agreements when, in “spinning off” Ameriprise, it disallowed the use of its brand name, and that Ameriprise have violated the Minnesota Franchise Act.

The American Express brand was an essential component of the franchise agreement. According to the aclss action complaint, “The switch to operations under ‘Ameriprise’ robbed Plaintiff and the Class of the benefit of their bargain and left them with only an unbranded trade name. By analogy, McDonald’s could not inform its franchisees that it was spinning off its fast-food operation, and prohibiting their further use of the ‘Golden Arches,’ when its franchisees paid for use of the McDonald’s trade name.”