A Las Vegas restaurant owner sued DoorDash, claiming a loophole in the food delivery service’s background check process nearly resulted in his death after a delivery driver with a history of violence and mental illness stabbed him.
Fabio Coppola, the owner of Roma Deli & Restaurant in Las Vegas, was stabbed last October — allegedly by Mackie Lee Allen, 32, after the DoorDash driver came to pick up an order at his establishment.
Allen was arrested and charged last November with attempted murder, battery with use of a deadly weapon, battery with intent to kill and assault with a deadly weapon, Fox 5 reported.
Coppola said he went up to Allen’s driver’s side window to let him know the food was ready for his delivery run when Allen allegedly became hostile. The lawsuit stated that Allen became aggressive and started screaming obscenities at Coppola once inside the restaurant.
The owner then tried to escort Allen out when the driver pulled out a pocketknife and sliced Coppola before chasing him around the parking lot, the lawsuit continued. Allen also allegedly stabbed Coppola in the ribs and back.
Ultimately, Allen was said to have delivered the customer’s order.
An attorney for Coppola said Allen passed DoorDash’s background check process, a service called Checkr — which reviewed seven years of his criminal history — even though Allen had prior felony convictions for forgery and robbery, and even though a judge had required him to “obtain further mental health evaluation.” Allen had been serving a prison sentence during the background-check window.
“DoorDash’s flawed background check policy almost cost Mr. Coppola his life,” Coppola’s attorney, Richard Schonfeld, said. “This case raises important questions in terms of the minimum standards that should be required to protect both consumers and restaurant workers.”
The lawsuit claimed DoorDash made a decision to look the other way when hiring or supervising drivers.
“At DoorDash, we take the safety of our community extremely seriously. We sincerely regret that this incident fell short of the experience we strive to give our customers every day,” the company announced in a statement. “While we can’t comment on active litigation, we have taken appropriate actions including deactivating the Dasher from our platform for failing to follow and maintain our code of conduct.”
A representative at DoorDash said the company dismissed Allen for failing to follow and maintain its code of conduct.
Coppola was seeking $50,000 in damages.