Massachusetts
Grubhub agrees to a $3.5 million settlement with Massachusetts for fees charged during the pandemic
By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press
BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced a $3.5 million settlement Friday with the online food delivery service platform Grubhub.
The settlement resolves a 2021 lawsuit brought by Campbell alleging Grubhub illegally overcharged fees to Massachusetts restaurants in violation of a state fee cap put in place during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Under the terms of the settlement, Grubhub will pay a combined total of over $3.5 million to impacted restaurants, Campbell said. Grubhub will also pay $125,000 to the state.
“Grubhub unlawfully overcharged and took advantage of restaurants during a public health emergency that devastated much of this industry,” Campbell said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the company said serving restaurants is “at the heart of everything Grubhub does.”
“Our success depends on these valuable merchant partners. While we have always complied with Massachusetts’ temporary price control, we’re ready to move forward from this situation and continue providing Massachusetts restaurants with the best possible service,” the spokesperson said in a written statement.
Grubhub contracts with restaurants to provide online customer ordering and delivery services and charges fees to contracted restaurants per customer order. The fees are generally charged as a certain percentage of the restaurant menu price of each order.
Massachusetts declared a public health state of emergency during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the emergency – when public traffic to restaurants plummeted and diners increasingly relied on delivery – lawmakers approved legislation barring Grubhub and other third-party delivery service platforms from charging fees to restaurants exceeding 15% of an order’s restaurant menu price.
The fee cap remained in effect between Jan. 14, 2021, and June 15, 2021, when former Gov. Charlie Baker lifted the state of emergency in Massachusetts.
The AG’s lawsuit, filed in July 2021, alleged Grubhub repeatedly violated the 15% fee cap by regularly charging fees of 18% or more, leading to significant financial harm to restaurants by often raising their operational costs by thousands of dollars.
In March 2023, Suffolk Superior Court ruled in favor of the state. The ruling indicated Grubhub’s conduct had violated both the 15% statutory fee cap and the state’s primary consumer protection statute, according to Campbell
Restaurants who may be eligible to receive funds from the settlement will be contacted, Campbell said.
Stephen Clark, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said restaurants are grateful for the settlement and that funds will go back to the restaurants that were working hard to survive and serve customers during the pandemic.
“While the dark days of the pandemic are behind us, the impacts are still being felt across the restaurant industry. Delivery, especially third-party delivery, is not going away. Restaurants and third-party delivery companies will need to continue to work collaboratively to survive and grow,” he said in a statement.
Massachusetts
A magical holiday village is tucked inside Massachusetts’ most famous candle store
Yankee Candle is a staple in the Bay State, famous for its colorful jars full of fragrance and warm light.
And while its candles can essentially be bought from anywhere, the mothership of the iconic candles lies in South Deerfield at Yankee Candle Village.
The flagship store, known for its ginormous collection of Yankee Candle scents and retail goods, is a winter holiday destination for those in New England.
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Leading up to Christmas, the store turns into a complete holiday stop.
Now on prominent display are the brand’s many different winter scents, including such classics as Red Apple Wreath and Balsam & Cedar, and such holiday scents as Christmas Cookie and North Pole Greetings.
Bavarian Christmas Village, arguably the most festive room in Yankee Candle Village, is Christmas all year. Guests will stroll through an enchanted forest featuring a 25-foot-tall Christmas tree, nutcrackers, winter village displays and even indoor snow that falls every 4 minutes.
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But scattered throughout the flagship store are hints of Christmas and a winter wonderland — from the home section filled with holiday kitchen decor to the Toy Shop filled with jolly trinkets.
Santa even pays a visit to the Yankee Candle Village, hosting a storytime with kids every Monday through Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
And if the shopping and holiday joy become overwhelming, the store even has cafes that offer a bite to eat. Guests can also indulge in sweet treats in its candy store or try freshly made fudge.
Yankee Candle Village is located at 25 Greenfield Road in South Deerfield. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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Massachusetts
Two stranded dolphins rescued from Massachusetts marsh
It swims in the family.
A mother and calf wandered off the beaten path and got stranded in a Massachusetts marsh, forcing an emergency mammal rescue crew to save the wayward dolphin pair.
On Dec. 8, the Wareham Department of Natural Resources responded to a report of two stranded dolphins in the area of Beaverdam Creek off of the Weweantic River, a 17-mile tributary that drains into Buzzards Bay, which directly connects to the Atlantic Ocean.
When crews arrived, two common dolphins were located alive and active, but partially out of the water stranded in the marsh, according to the Wareham Department of Natural Resources.
Responding authorities alerted the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Marine Mammal Stranding Response Team, based in Cape Cod.
IFAW team members put the dolphins on stretchers and brought them to safety, where they conducted preliminary tests on the wayward dolphins.
“Our teams were easily able to extract the animals and transport them via our custom-built rescue vehicle,” Stacey Hedman, senior director of communications for IFAW, said.
The dolphins were weighed; the smaller of the two weighed approximately 90 lbs, and the larger mammal around 150 lbs.
Upon further analysis, it was revealed that the dolphins were an adult female and a socially-dependent juvenile female, a mother and calf pair.
According to Hedman, IFAW had some concerns over the mother’s decreased responsiveness and abnormal blood work, though it was deemed the pair was healthy enough to release back into the ocean at West Dennis Beach in Dennis, Mass.
“By releasing them into an area with many other dolphins around, this would hopefully increase their chances of socialization and survival. Both animals have satellite tags that are still successfully tracking,” Hedman said.
Massachusetts
Man seriously injured after being thrown from moving vehicle during domestic dispute
A 19-year-old Massachusetts man was seriously injured after he was thrown from a moving vehicle he had grabbed onto during a domestic dispute Thursday morning.
Duxbury police said they responded to a report of an injured male who might have been struck by a vehicle on Chandler Street around 5:22 a.m. and found a 19-year-old Pembroke man lying in the roadway with serious injuries.
Through interviews with witnesses, officers learned that the man had gone to his ex-girlfriend’s residence on Chandler Street to confront her current boyfriend. An altercation ensued, during which police said the 19-year-old appears to have jumped on the hood of a vehicle and was then thrown from the moving vehicle.
The incident remains under investigation, police said. At this time, they said no charges have been filed.
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