Judge Berates Lawyers for Gig Economy Companies for Trying to ‘Worm Out’ of Arbitration
U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco has berated lawyers for big tech companies before, and now an attorney for DoorDash found himself the target, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
The issue was the way the meal-delivery startup pushed its couriers into arbitration, writes the Chronicle‘s Mallory Moench.
Courthouse News Service describes an exchange Alsup had with DoorDash lawyer James Fogelman, of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher:
“Your law firm and all your firms have tried for 20 years to keep plaintiffs out of court, and you’ve gotten a lot of success in the courts,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup said. “Then someone says, ‘OK. We’ll take you to arbitration,’ and suddenly it’s not in your interest anymore. Now you’re wiggling away, trying to find a way to squirm out of your agreement.”
DoorDash had been ordered to pay more than $11 million in arbitration fees.
Read the SF Chronicle article.
