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If it isn't fresh, it isn't Legal: Seafood chain sues food-delivery service it claims was putting seafood lovers, restaurants at risk
By adamg on Fri, 03/04/2016 - 8:38am
Legal Sea Foods this week sued DoorDash for offering home delivery of Legal meals even though Legal says it wanted nothing to do with the service - and repeatedly told it to stop doing that.
In a trademark lawsuit filed in US District Court in Boston, the homegrown seafood chain charges DoorDash kept using Legal's logo on its Web site and mobile app, implying Legal approved of its service, even though Legal did not, because the two in fact had no business relationship and DoorDash was putting customers - and Legal's reputation - at risk because of the way it was delivering food:
DoorDash put Legals at risk for claims by customers relating to the quality of its food products. Legals had no control over DoorDash's operations including (a) how its food products are being cared for during the delivery process; (b) how long it takes for DoorDash to make a delivery; (c) whether DoorDash regularly complied with all applicable health and sanitary codes; or (d) if the deliveries were being made via a bicycle.
Plaintiff would and did not authorize Defendant, or any other entity, to deliver its food products to consumers without the necessary food safety procedures in place especially bicycle service.
DoorDash put Legals at risk for customer complaints and claims of food contamination and/or spoliation, and related illnesses, which would have substantially damaged Legals' reputation and standing in the restaurant business, and could result in irreparable damages and financial loss.
In the complaint, Legal says that when customers ordered Legal food through DoorDash's Web site or mobile app, DoorDash employees then called in a pick-up order at the closest Legal restaurant under their own name, picked it up and delivered it - after adding a "service" charge. The employees, Legal charges, were specifically instructed not to mention DoorDash when picking up orders at a Legal restaurant.
Legal said DoorDash kept delivering Legal food for several months after Legal demanded it stop.
Although DoorDash finally gave in and took Legal off its Boston Web and app pages, Legal is asking a judge to permanently enjoin DoorDash from ever again listing Legal as a restaurant option. It is also seeking damages - doubled or trebled - costs and legal fees.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
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 Complete Legal complaint | 345.7 KB |
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Comments
I'm actually on Lega's side.
These delivery services have far too often delivered me cold and soggy food. I now go to the restaurant and pick up my own take out orders.
Imagine getting a nice body
Imagine getting a nice body-temperature shrimp cocktail from a bike courier in the summer.
Is that euphemism? Sign me up
Is that euphemism? Sign me up.
ill be your
cocktail shrimp
excellent pun
Last line:
It is also seeking damages - doubled or trebled - costs and legal fees.
Treble hook for catching.......
http://www.basspro.com/_/N-0/Ntk-Search_All/Ntt-treble+hook
I don't see how Legal Seafood
I don't see how Legal Seafood could prevent DoorDash from doing this. How is it any different than paying someone to go pick up your food for you?
I don't know about the other claims, but using the logo
and other copyrighted or trademarked art seems like pretty solid grounds for getting sued if the copyright or trademark holder doesn't give you permission to use them.
Definitely the logo.
I also wonder if republishing their menu is questionable. There have been legal battles over menus before. One Adam even posted about within the last six months or so.
Edit:
Found the post I was thinking of:
http://www.universalhub.com/2015/down-dumplings-lawsuit-scion-local-chin...
Ayup
And that's why this is a trademark lawsuit. Legal cited the possible delivery problems to make the case that Doordash was harming the Legal brand.
And I see my post doesn't make that clear
Off to a meeting, but will fix.
I Agree
It just ain't right.
Dash Is Worse Than The Boston Globe Delivery Service
I've been using Foodler to order food for laboratory meetings for years. Until recently, it was very reliable. Then, without us asking for it, some orders started being handed off to Dash for delivery.
Food arriving forty-five minutes late is very bad for a lunch meeting that lasts barely an hour, but when the next order arrived four hours late it was totally useless! The restaurant that prepared the food was dismayed when we called to find out what happened to our order, as they had handed it off to Dash in time for it to be delivered when requested.
At first, Foodler said that Dash would refund 50% of the order, but I told them that was completely unacceptable. Not only was the food cold and soggy, but kept at an uncontrolled temperature for four hours is a serious food-safety violation!
When I threatened to dispute the charge with our credit card company, Foodler relented and refunded the full amount. The Boston Globe can be figuratively sickening even when delivered on time, but getting food delivered four hours late can be literally sickening.
foodler
is a really great service, until you have an issue with delivery of goods. i've been a customer since 2008 and i've only recently had one major issue that i found absolutely unacceptable.
my food was simply just never delivered at all. the restaurant said they did deliver it, which would be very difficult for me to miss as i was on my stoop the entire time. foodler told me that because the restaurant said it was delivered, i was obviously incorrect.
i rarely ever bother pulling the tenure card as a customer, because frankly whenever that was done to me by a client it induced nothing but eyerolls. in a similar vein to that i did mention that i'd had countless deliveries spanning years and years and i'd never found one reason to complain once (any issue i had i was able to resolve with the restaurant directly, but at the end of the day it is foodler taking my money in this case, not the restaurant).
i ended up having to do the same thing you did and threaten to dispute the charges. they finally took it seriously, which really sucked. i could see if they'd had some sort of habitual offender but i would hardly call one time in years of transactions habitual.
i still use the service on the increasingly rare occasions i bother having food delivered.
Foodler has been the best but customers services declined.
Foodler has been the best but customers services quality declined. Some menu prices are raised even where a delivery charge is added.
Decrease In Self Delivery?
I have noticed that there are less and less options for non-delivery service delivery left on Foodler. Dash charges a $6 fee and $20 minimum to orders making it overly expensive and impossible for a single diner. MixMenu is not much better with the same fee and a $15 minimum. Add to it slow delivery as it is virtually never the restaurants fault as they promptly fill the order and it either sits there waiting for some errant driver, or worse the driver picks it up and drives around for 2 hours before reaching you. Then add to it several occasions where computer problems did not pass the order through to those delivery services. The good thing is you can filter out those places that use Dash or MixMenu off the list on Foodler. But it leaves very few choices. Conversely I have never had a problem when a restaurant takes the orders directly [from Foodler] and uses their own delivery person. Low to no fees, quick delivery, low to no minimum order.
One thing that drives me nuts
One thing that drives me nuts about Yelp is seeing negative reviews for poor delivery. In most cases people use a 3rd party for delivery, and that 3rd party has no affiliation with the restaurant that's being reviewed.