Florida Senate Passes Bill Regulating Food Delivery Apps

The Florida Legislature unanimously passed a bill to regulate food delivery platforms such as Uber Eats and DoorDash. If signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis, the bill would prohibit platforms from taking or arranging delivery or pickup orders from establishments without their written or electronic consent. Further, platforms will have to remove restaurants within 10 days of a request. The bill also prevents platforms from intentionally inflating or deflating prices without consent, and platforms must provide itemized costs starting in July 2025. Platforms will have to provide a method of contacting the consumer and will have to provide a method to respond to ratings or reviews left by the consumer. Consumers would have unlimited rights to appeal disputed orders and transactions. Noncompliance may result in a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per offense. The bill preempts regulation of food delivery platforms in the state. This bill is another example of governments catching up and regulating a rapidly growing industry. 

_{Case Law Alerts, 2nd Quarter, April 2024 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2024 Marshall Dennehey, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}