Burger King Corporation and La-Van Hawkins UrbanCityFoods LLC announced today that they have reached an agreement where all litigation and other disputes between the parties will be dismissed or resolved and La-Van Hawkins UrbanCityFoods will sell its 23 Burger King® restaurants in the Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta areas to Burger King Corporation. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Representatives of both companies said the transactions will be completed on a staggered schedule over the next several weeks allowing for a smooth transition with minimal disruption at the restaurant level.

"We are extremely pleased to have resolved our differences with Mr. Hawkins and that we have structured an agreement that will allow for an orderly turn-over of the restaurants,'' said Barry Blum, chief legal counsel for Burger King Corporation. "It is our hope that none of these restaurants will be closed for more than 72 hours and that as many staff members as possible will remain with the new management.''

Blum said that Burger King Corporation is expected to retain ownership of the five restaurants in Atlanta and plans to re-franchise the remaining restaurants in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Baltimore to existing franchisees.

"Mr. Hawkins is very pleased with the resolution of the matter and is glad that he and his staff can now concentrate on running their other highly successful businesses,'' said trial lawyer Willie Gary of Gary, Williams, Parenti, et al., and Alex L. Parrish of Detroit's Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, who negotiated the settlement on behalf of La-Van Hawkins UrbanCityFoods LLC. They noted that a key aspect of the settlement is that the restaurants will remain open to serve their communities.