unlawfulcharges.comThe gap between the menu price and the total
Order through the Jimmy John's app or website and each item shows a price. Customers describe several charges that only appear after the food has been selected.
The delivery fee changes with the order: customers report $2.99 on a one-sandwich order and $4.99 on a two-sandwich order, with some fees running as high as $6. The fee grows with the size of the purchase, not the delivery, and it is not shown while the order is being built. Customers also report charges for ingredient add-ons, such as $1.20 for cheese, that were never priced when the ingredient was selected. And because Jimmy John's offers discounts on pickup orders that it does not offer on delivery, the same sandwich can cost more when delivered - a markup built into the food prices themselves and never identified as a delivery charge.
Each charge is small on its own, but added together and repeated across every order, they make the checkout total meaningfully higher than the prices the app displayed.
A delivery fee that does not go to the driver
Most customers read a line called a delivery fee as money for the person bringing the food. Jimmy John's says otherwise: the company's own customer FAQ states that its delivery fees are not gratuities and are not shared with drivers.
That statement does not appear on the order screen. Nothing at the point of payment tells a customer that the delivery fee is revenue the company keeps rather than pay for the driver, so a customer who reads the fee as a tip, and then tips separately on top of it, has paid twice. A lawsuit filed in New York makes the same allegation - that the company collected delivery fees without letting customers know the fees were not being paid out to drivers.
Why a chain's own app is a harder case for the company
Hidden-fee claims often involve a delivery platform sitting between a customer and a restaurant, such as our claim against Grubhub, and the company charging the fee will argue it is a middleman passing along someone else's costs.
But this is Jimmy John's own app and website, showing its own menu, delivered by its own drivers - and every pricing decision that adds a fee or a markup was made by Jimmy John's.
What Virginia law requires of an advertised price
Virginia's drip-pricing laws are part of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. They prohibit mandatory add-on fees that were not disclosed when an item's price was first advertised. Restaurants have their own category under the Consumer Protection Act but the core is the same; the first price disclosed and first set of fees disclosed has to be the amount at the end for the purposes of mandatory charges.
Meanwhile, a genuinely optional charge - something you choose to add - can be presented as you add it. A mandatory charge cannot. If a customer cannot complete the order without paying it, that charge is part of the price, and it has to appear in the first price the customer is shown, not on the payment screen and not on the receipt. A fee that is disclosed but labeled as something it is not - a delivery fee the company keeps - fails the same requirement, because the customer still was not told the real price of what they were buying.
Maginnis Howard is able to take these cases on a 'mass arbitration' basis, so that these cases which only amount to a few dollars per transaction make economic sense for us to handle at no cost to you. The protection is most direct in Virginia and the other states with express pricing-transparency laws, and we believe the practice is improper in all 50. It measures the seller against what the seller displayed rather than what the seller intended.
Who qualifies, and what a Virginia customer can recover
This claim is open to consumers 18 and over for orders placed on or after July 1, 2025. It is most direct in Virginia and the other states with express pricing-transparency laws, but we believe the practice is improper in all 50.
Recovery is straightforward to describe. Actual damages are the total of the undisclosed fees and overcharges you paid - every delivery fee, every unpriced add-on charge, every delivery markup that showed up after the price did. Virginia law allows recovery of your actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, along with your attorney fees. If the violation is found to be willful, the court may award up to three times your actual damages, or $1,000, whichever is greater.
Private individual arbitration is how a claim like this against Jimmy John's is brought, and we handle that entirely on your behalf.
You do not need a receipt to sign up today, though we may ask for order confirmations, receipts or app screenshots later. Signing up takes about a minute and costs nothing. We work on contingency: no fee unless we recover for you.
The legal basis
Why this may be illegal
Jimmy John's charges a "delivery fee" that — by the company's own admission — is "not a gratuity and is not shared with drivers." It is a mandatory fee that is not disclosed until the end of the transaction. Maginnis Howard is investigating retailers such as Jimmy John's and Dunkin, as well as delivery services like Grubhub and their actions of adding mandatory, non-optional fees at the end of the transaction. Customers have alleged that Jimmy John's also adds undisclosed ingredient up-charges to the final price of your sandwich. Virginia and a number of other states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon and Massachusetts — have enacted statutes that expressly require an advertised price to include every mandatory fee, and a claim is most direct in those states. But we believe the tactic is improper in all 50: every state has an unfair and deceptive trade practices law that prohibits a company from advertising a price the consumer cannot actually get, and from mislabeling what a charge is for.
The law
Virginia Consumer Protection Act § 59.1-608 prohibits mandatory add-on fees not disclosed when an item's price is first advertised. Food service companies have some additional protections but all mandatory fees must still be disclosed clearly and conspicuously at the start of the order, not at the end. The delivery fees can adjust based upon how many sandwiches are ordered and ingredient upcharges also rise in the same way. Both government agencies and lawsuits in other states are targeting this conduct. And Jimmy John's is not the only company that does it.
What you could recover
Virginia law allows recovery of your actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, along with your attorney fees. If the violation is found to be willful, the court may award up to three times your actual damages, or $1,000, whichever is greater.
How your claim would be handled
Claims like this are handled as individual arbitration cases — private proceedings, no courtroom. For Jimmy John's, cases are typically administered through AAA.
What They Showed You* vs. What You Actually Paid*
| What They Showed You* (Jimmy John's order) | $15.98 |
| Delivery Fee | +$4.99 |
| Cheese add-on | +$1.20 |
| What You Actually Paid* (After Hidden Fees) | $22.17 |
Figures shown are illustrative examples, not records of an actual transaction; your amounts may differ.
Think you're affected? Check if you qualify and sign up in about two minutes — no upfront cost.
Check if you qualifyFrequently asked questions
Do I have to pay for this?
You don't pay anything unless we recover compensation on your behalf. Our legal team works on contingency, which means we only get paid if you do.
Does it matter what state I live in?
It affects how your claim is built, not whether you can sign up. The most direct route is in Virginia and the other states that have passed express pricing-transparency or junk-fee statutes — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon and Massachusetts. We believe this pricing tactic is improper in all 50 states, because every state has an unfair and deceptive trade practices law that reaches advertising a price that isn't the price charged. Tell us where you were when you were charged and we'll evaluate it.
Do I have to provide proof of purchase?
You don't need proof of purchase to sign up today. However, we'll ask for a receipt or screenshot of the transaction.
What is Maginnis Howard?
Maginnis Howard is a consumer protection and personal injury law firm serving clients nationwide. You may find more details about us at www.carolinalaw.com.
Will I have to go to court?
No, we will file everything on your behalf.
What if I have other questions?
For all other questions, contact us at unlawfulcharges@carolinalaw.com.
What clients say
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