Cappello & Noel, LLP Announces: Former Owners of ``We the People'' Say New Owner, Dollar Financial, Not Fulfilling Franchisee Obligations.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- According to Cappello & Noel, LLP, its clients Ira and Linda Distenfield, founders and former owners of the We The People (WTP) legal document preparation franchise, believe new WTP owner, Dollar Financial Corp. (DFC) (NASDAQ:DLLR), is not fulfilling franchisee obligations since it purchased the company from the Distenfields in 2005. The result, says Ira Distenfield, is that some franchisees are seeing lower revenues and less franchisee support coming from Dollar.

The Distenfields, although no longer involved with WTP, have been the target of several lawsuits by disgruntled franchisees, whom Distenfield says are mistakenly seeking financial compensation from him and his wife, believing they stand a better chance at winning a lawsuit against two individuals than a multi-million dollar company.

"Dollar owns WTP; the Distenfields don't," says A. Barry Cappello, managing partner with Santa Barbara's Cappello & Noel and who represents the Distenfields. "If franchisees have problems, they need to deal with Dollar. To attempt to squeeze money from the Distenfields because of Dollar's ineptness is ludicrous."

"We sold the business to Dollar more than a year and a half ago," explains Distenfield. "I believe Linda and I are taking the heat for Dollar's mismanagement of the franchisees because nobody wants to go head to head with a large publicly-traded company with a huge legal war chest."

"Prior to purchasing We the People, Dollar hired one of the largest law firms in the country and independent franchise consultants to conduct thorough due diligence," says Cappello. "Dollar was fully aware that there were some documentation problems before the transaction closed. Both parties set aside $1.5 million in an escrow account to cover any discrepancies. Franchisees who may have a right to some of that money are now being told by Dollar they aren't going to get a dime and to sue the Distenfields. They are being misled as to who the proper target is."

Currently, the Distenfields are in litigation against Dollar over financial compensation from their sale of the company. An arbitration hearing is scheduled the beginning of August between the Distenfields and Dollar. "Dollar has unconscionably withheld a good portion of the purchase amount from the Distenfields," says Cappello. "We expect the arbitrators to right that wrong and award the Distenfields what is properly due them."