NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – It is far too early to start giving out leadership roles, a New York federal judge has told two law firms hoping to stake their claim to litigation against Grubhub and other food-delivery services.
Two lawsuits allege Grubhub, Uber Eats, Doordash and Postmates have exploited their positions in the market for delivery and takeout. The firms Frank LLP and Roche Cyrulnik Freedman last week asked Judge Lewis Kaplan to name them interim co-lead counsel in preparation for any other firms filing similar cases.
They also asked that their two cases be consolidated, which Kaplan did.
“There is simply no need or justification to appoint anyone as interim class counsel, at least at this point in the litigation,” Kaplan wrote July 18.
Frank LLP filed the first case in April. RCF filed its on July 6. Restaurants have to use the defendants’ services, the suits say, 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 suits say.
“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 RCF 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.”