Restaurant.com lawsuit dismissed, appealed, dismissed, and...appealed

5-Aug-14 – Plaintiffs in the four-year-old class action lawsuit against Restaurant.com have taken one more stab at reviving their case. An appeal has been filed, contesting the dismissal of the suit on July 10.

Restaurant.com is based in Arlington Heights and owned by two River North residents, Dr. Kenneth Chessick, a lawyer, and his wife, Ellen Chessick, who is president of Marina Towers Condominium Association. Photo by NIU Today.

Two New Jersey residents, Larissa Shelton and Gregory Bohus, are suing RDC on behalf of themselves and others over gift certificates they purchased from the company that had expiration dates and a disclaimer in violation of New Jersey law.

The suit has been dismissed and appealed once before. It has been argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court. It now returns to the United States Court of Appeals.

Attorneys with The Wolf Law Firm of North Brunswick, New Jersey filed the appeal on July 15. They will ask the court to reverse the ruling and permit the case to go forward.

Restaurant.com continues to get complaints, not so much from its customers but from the restaurants it represents. In July, the owner of Marr’s Avenue Grill in Jackson, Michigan said RDC was selling gift certificates to its restaurant but he was not aware that he had signed up for such a service. Al Marr told a Michigan news site that he believed Restaurant.com was just a site on which to advertise his restaurant.

RDC disputes this but a spokesperson for the company said on July 24 they would stop selling gift certificates to Marr’s.

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