DoNotPay, dubbed the world’s first robot lawyer, is being sued by Chicago-based law firm Edelson, which claims the company is practicing law without a license.
Edelson filed the case on behalf of California resident Jonathan Faridian, who claimed he hired DoNotPay in San Francisco to draft demand letters, a small claims court filing, and LLC operating agreements and received “substandard and poorly done” results.
This lawsuit claims, “Unfortunately for its customers, DoNotPay is neither a robot nor a law firm. DoNotPay has no legal training, is not barred in any jurisdiction, and is not supervised by a lawyer.”
Jonathan Faridian of Yolo County is suing for damages for alleged violations of California’s unfair competition law, claiming that he would not have subscribed if he knew the “World’s First Robot Lawyer,” as the company bills itself, was not a lawyer. Faridian asks the court to certify a class of all people who have purchased a DoNotPay subscription.
On Twitter, DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder responded, saying the claims have “no merit” and that Faridian has “had dozens of successful consumer rights cases with DoNotPay.” According to Browder, Edelson founder Jay Edelson “inspired me to start DoNotPay,” claiming Edelson and other lawyers enrich themselves through class actions with little benefit to consumers.
Browder added that “Time and time again the only people that win are the lawyers. So I wanted to do something about it, building the DoNotPay robot lawyer to empower consumers to take on corporations on their own. This put my target on my back and Edelson began a campaign to stop us.”
The sources for this piece include an article in BusinessInsider.
