37-5B-13. Exemptions from notice filing and obligations to deliver disclosure document. The following franchises are subject to this chapter but are exempt from §§ 37-5B-4 and 37-5B-17, if any of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The franchisee's initial investment, excluding any financing received from the franchisor or an affiliate, and excluding the cost of unimproved land, totals at least one million dollars and the prospective franchisee signs an acknowledgment verifying the grounds for the exemption. The acknowledgment shall state: The franchise sale is for more than one million dollars, excluding the cost of unimproved land and any financing received from the franchisor or an affiliate;

(2) The franchisee (or its parent or any affiliates) is an entity that has been in business for at least five years and has a net worth of at least five million dollars; or

(3) The offer or sale of a franchise by a personal representative, sheriff, marshal, receiver, trustee, trustee in bankruptcy, guardian, or conservator on behalf of a person other than the franchisor or the estate of the franchisor; or

(4) One or more purchasers of at least a fifty percent ownership interest in the franchise; within sixty days of the sale, has been, for at least two years, an officer, director, general partner, individual with management responsibility for the offer and sale of the franchisor's franchises or the administrator of the franchised network; or within sixty days of the sale, has been, for at least two years, an owner of at least a twenty-five percent interest in the franchise.Source: SL 2008, ch 203, § 13.