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.