A federal lawsuit filed by a St. Louis restaurant against DoorDash has been assigned to Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson in the Northern District of California.
Although situated in the state of Missouri, Lona’s Lil Eats filed the class action in California because DoorDash is headquartered in San Francisco.
The complaint, filed on Sept. 24, alleges that DoorDash engaged in a pattern of behavior in which customers are deceptively steered away from restaurants with whom DoorDash does not have a relationship by the practice of representing to consumers that those restaurants are allegedly closed, cannot deliver to them or are not accepting orders at the time.
“When you look on their website or app, it no longer appears that you can order from Lona’s only to have it show that delivery is unavailable because it’s too far away but we're unable to confirm that the problem is, in fact, fully resolved on all platforms as to Lona's," Lona’s lawyer James Rosemergy told the St. Louis Record.
Lona’s Lil Eats accuses the app of publishing false and deceptive information by featuring its menu, only to say its food is unavailable. As a result, some consumers conclude the restaurant is closed when in reality, it simply refused to sign up with DoorDash.
“[DoorDash] market power is such that restaurants are put in a difficult situation: they can become Partner Restaurants and pay exorbitant fees and commissions to Defendant [DoorDash], or they decline to do so and risk losing out on sales,” Rosemergy wrote in the complaint.
The restaurant currently only offers curbside pick-up of meal orders due to COVID-19.
As of Nov. 6, the Missouri COVID-19 dashboard shows a total of 200,507 coronavirus cases statewide and 3,131 deaths.
Prior to the pandemic, Lona’s Lil Eats offered dine-in service.
"The voluntary cessation of the practice at issue as to Lona's doesn't fully address the matters raised in the complaint and we, therefore, intend to move forward with the litigation," Rosemergy said in an interview.
Allegations in the complaint against DoorDash include taking advantage of the existing market demand for Lona’s and other restaurants to drive traffic to its site, at which time it will redirect customers to other restaurants by suggesting that Lona’s is not an option.
“In fact, Lona’s provides curb-side service, and, therefore, it is an option,” Rosemergy wrote in the complaint. “ DoorDash’s representations that Lona’s is too far away for delivery or closed are not true.”
However, Taylor Bennett, global head of public affairs for DoorDash, told the St. Louis Record that DoorDash was not intentionally steering customers away from any restaurant, in particular.
“We have previously addressed the technological issue on our platform that arose from the difficulty in tracking restaurant closures as a result of the pandemic, which impacted a small number of merchant partners and non-partners alike,” Bennett said in an interview. “We’re proud of the role DoorDash plays in helping restaurants connect with new customers and generate additional revenue, and we remain committed to supporting the merchant community and demonstrating the value of the DoorDash platform.”