A Massachusetts Superior Court Judge on Friday granted Gopuff’s request for a preliminary injunction, blocking for now the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission’s (ABCC) attempt to revoke the e-commerce retailer’s liquor license for allegedly selling and delivering alcoholic beverages to underage consumers in the Bay State.
The ABCC cited 19 instances of Gopuff allegedly selling and delivering alcoholic beverages to underage students, many of whom were Boston College students.
Judge Kenneth Salinger found in Gopuff’s favor, writing that the retailer successfully showed “that the ABCC’s decision was arbitrary and therefore unlawful” and thus “barring enforcement of the revocation order is in the public interest.”
“The court finds that the remedial measures adopted by Gopuff make it unlikely that Gopuff will negligently sell or deliver alcohol to someone younger than 21 years of age,” Salinger wrote.
The ABCC revoked Gopuff’s license following a March hearing, issuing the ruling on May 18. At the time, Gopuff said it would appeal.
Salinger ruled that Gopuff succeeded in proving that the ABCC “made no attempt to explain why” revocation was the right sanction and acted arbitrarily 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;”
- “ignoring Gopuff’s evidence regarding remedial measures it had taken to ensure that no similar violations occur.”
The judge wrote that “Gopuff would suffer irreparable harm without this preliminary injunction, that it would not be in the public interest to allow the ABCC to enforce what appears to be an unlawful decision, and that issuing the requested injunction would not harm the public.”
A Gopuff spokesperson said the company is “pleased with the court’s decision and look forward to continuing to serve our customers across Massachusetts.”
“We have always maintained a deep commitment to protecting underage consumers and quickly made several meaningful changes to our compliance processes when these violations were brought to our attention,” the spokesperson said. “Those changes included 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, among other updates.”
The judge noted that Gopuff’s efforts to strengthen its “remedial measures” were recognized by the ABCC in September 2022, when the agency approved two new retail licenses for the company, with the ABCC chair noting that the “company has really taken it to heart and put a lot of work into taking steps to make sure that minors are not furnished alcohol in the future.”