Hunton Retail Law Resource

The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) and its new Commissioner, Samuel Levine, are moving quickly to advance a new era of consumer protection, with an initial focus on app-based delivery companies. The first lawsuit filed by DCWP under Levine reveals a specific tactic that will get the attention of this and other industries: suing company CEOs in their individual capacities.

As we previously reported, the DCWP is at the vanguard of Mayor Mamdani's populist agenda. On January 15, 2026, DCWP filed a lawsuit against Motoclick, alleging that it ignored minimum pay requirements for delivery workers, “stole” earnings from delivery drivers, and charged them illegal fees. The lawsuit seeks full pay and damages for the workers. “No executive should be exploiting workers to line their own pockets. We will fight in court to make workers whole and ensure that it will never happen again in our city,” said Levine. 

In addition to suing Motoclick, DCWP sued the CEO of Motoclick individually. This is consistent with approaches taken by Levine and former FTC Chair Lina Khan (who is co-chair of Mayor Mamdani’s transition team) when they were at the FTC. At the press conference announcing the lawsuit, Levine cited past examples where the FTC named an executive as a defendant and indicated that whether to do so going forward in other cases would depend on the specifics of each case. “New Yorkers who speed or who park illegally get tickets, I don’t know why executives should get immunity when they break the law,” Levine said.

The lawsuit against Motoclick is part of a broader and sweeping effort by DCWP to advance protections for app-based delivery workers. On January 13, 2026, DCWP issued a report alleging that two other app-based companies had altered their tipping interfaces to deprive delivery workers of $550 million in tips. DCWP also sent compliance warning notices to app-based delivery companies informing them that they need to start following NYC’s delivery worker laws. On January 15, 2026, shortly after filing the lawsuit against Motoclick, Mayor Mamdani announced a new task force against “predatory delivery apps.”

“This is an announcement . . . for every deliverista across this city that this is an indicator of the new era . . . and that’s just not holding Motoclick to account but holding any app company to account if they are operating outside of the rules and the laws of New York City,” said Mayor Mamdani. “What New Yorkers deserve is a DCWP that is just as relentless in its pursuit of justice and its pursuit of fairness as companies are in their pursuit of illegality.”

Mamdani also recognized that it would take additional funding for DCWP to enable it to meet its new mandate. He did not provide specifics as to what level of funding he would request for DCWP.