Gopuff is back in business selling alcohol in Massachusetts — at least for now.
In May, the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission revoked Gopuff’s statewide alcohol express transportation permit and Newton retail alcohol license after a commission investigation determined that the company’s licensees were selling alcoholic beverages to minors and driving without a permit. The next week Gopuff struck back, suing the ABCC and commissioners Jean Lorizio, Crystal Matthews and Deborah Baglio.
Philadelphia-based Gopuff alleged in a complaint filed with Massachusetts Superior Court's Business Litigation Session that the commission’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance with law.”
The company also warned that without these licenses, it might need to suspend all of its Bay State retail locations due to insufficient sales.
Following a hearing last Friday, Judge Kenneth Salinger showed support for Gopuff’s arguments by issuing a preliminary injunction against the commission’s decision. The judge barred the commission from enforcing the license revocations until further notice, allowing the company to continue selling alcohol while the case unfolds in court.
“Gopuff is likely to succeed in proving that the ABCC acted arbitrarily in two ways: first, by imposing a disproportionate sanction far in excess of punishments that it has imposed in similar cases, and doing so without explaining why license or permit revocation is appropriate in this case; and second, by ignoring Gopuff’s evidence regarding remedial measures it had taken to ensure that no similar violations occur,” Salinger wrote in his decision.
Among Gopuff’s claims was that the company received an outsized punishment from the commission and that the ABCC ignored the steps Gopuff took to enhance its compliance measures. Gopuff also noted that the violations recorded by the ABCC took place in 2021, and the commission has since approved the company’s request to renew its Newton retail license and statewide express transportation permit.
In a statement, a Gopuff spokesperson said the company looks forward to continuing serving its customers in Massachusetts. The spokesperson pointed again to the company’s steps to improve its compliance with the law, including “enhancing delivery partner education and communication around regulated product delivery, further strengthening operational compliance procedures, launching a secret shopper program, and implementing enhanced ID scanning technology.”
Andrew Napolitano, a spokesperson for the commission, said they have no comment at this time.
“The ABCC will continue to comply with the court’s ruling,” he wrote in an email.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell and the ABCC general counsel Kris Foster submitted a document to the court on Friday opposing Gopuff’s motion for a preliminary injunction. In the document, they highlighted that Gopuff admitted to 19 counts of selling alcohol to minors and six counts of driving without a permit.
The document said the commission’s decision to revoke Gopuff’s licenses was already explained in its initial decision: “The Commission is struck by the fact that Investigators notified goPuff's Manager of Record after the first sale and/or delivery [to a minor], and again after each sale and/or delivery that followed, but despite being informed of the initial sale and all that came after it, no action was seemingly taken to prevent additional sales and/or deliveries to patrons under the age of twenty-one.”
Campbell and Foster noted that these violations took place over multiple days and claim that Gopuff’s steps to improve compliance measures have been “inadequate.” They wrote that additional violations for sales to minors took place on March 23 and 31, 2023, and a hearing is scheduled for July 11.
If the license revocations were to stand, Campbell and Foster said Gopuff could continue selling and delivering alcohol through its 15 package store licenses in Boston and Quincy and could obtain transportation permits for each of its other licenses.
