A woman is suing Postmates Inc. and the city of Los Angeles, alleging that an employee of the courier service groped her when making a delivery in 2017 and that the LAPD bungled its handling of her complaint.
Jamie Hunter's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges assault, battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil rights violations and breach of contract. She is seeking unspecified damages.
A representative for the City Attorney's Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Patricia Cartes Andres, head of Postmates' Trust & Safety office, issued a statement on the company's behalf.
"The report about this incident is deeply concerning, and when notified in August of 2017, we immediately removed the courier involved from the Postmates platform, reached out to our customer and offered our assistance and have cooperated with law enforcement," the statement read. "At Postmates, nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our entire community."
All members of the Postmates fleet are subject to national and statewide background checks, according to the statement.
The plaintiff is identified in her lawsuit as a model and makeup artist who lives in Los Angeles. On Aug. 3, 2017, she ordered breakfast via the Postmates app, which she used to request food deliveries up to three times daily, according to her court papers.
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The delivery driver, identified only at Trent L., arrived with her order about 11:30 a.m. and, with her back turned to him, reached under her bathrobe and inappropriately touched her while she checked the bag's contents on a table, the suit alleges.
The woman claims she pushed him out through a door after a struggle and called 911. He then knocked on her door, called her on her phone and sent her threatening text messages for the next hour or so, the suit alleges.
The defendant left just before two LAPD officers arrived and Hunter showed them a text in which the deliveryman said he would return that evening, according to her suit, which also alleges the officers did not properly document her complaint or advise her of her rights under the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008. Enacted by voters and known as Marsy's Law, it expanded the legal rights of victims of crime and required that they be treated with dignity and respect.
Trent L. returned later that night with alcohol and texted the plaintiff saying he "wanted to have a good time with her," but her boyfriend was there and chased him away, the suit alleges.
The plaintiff's 6-year-old son also was present and remains in fear of anyone who approaches the front door, according to his mother's court papers.
Hunter claims she declined a Postmates lawyer's offer of $20,000 if she signed a waiver of liability because the attorney would not give her Trent L.'s full identity. She maintains she was subsequently treated rudely by LAPD detectives and that her case was not sent to the District Attorney's Office for possible prosecution of the courier as one detective had promised.
The LAPD has not replied to Hunter's requests for updates on the investigation into her complaints regarding the defendant, the suit states.
