NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Grubhub, Uber and Postmates are accused of unfair business practices in an antitrust lawsuit filed July 6.
The three have exploited their positions in the market for delivery and takeout, the proposed class action says. Restaurants have to use their services, the suit says, because of their increasing popularity.
Restaurants are paying “unreasonable” commissions for each order on these apps – costs that are then passed down to customers in the form of higher prices, the suit says.
“In a freely competitive market, the restaurants would effectively offset these increased costs by having them paid by those consumers who choose the convenience of Defendants’ platforms,” the complaint says.
“That is, absent restrictions, these restaurants would offer their customers different prices depending on whether they used Defendants’ platforms or placed orders directly through the restaurant.”
The law firm Roche Cyrulnik Freedman is pursuing the case.