Mark Potashnick has practiced in the areas of labor, employment and employee benefits law for 30 years. He has obtained seven and eight figure settlements of class and collective action wage and hour cases, has obtained six and seven figure jury verdicts in employment cases, and has obtained multiple orders reinstating health and disability benefits.  His current practice encompasses wage and hour collective actions and class action employee benefit claims, with an emphasis on suits seeking recovery of under-reimbursed vehicle expenses.  Mark has served as class counsel in wage and hour, employee benefits, employment discrimination and WARN Act claims. He was an executive board member of the National Employment Lawyers Association – St. Louis.  Mark has been named a “Kansas/Missouri Superlawyer” every year since 2015. Mark graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and Washington University School of Law in 1993.  He has spoken around the country regarding employment law, workplace rights and employee benefits.

Litigation Highlights:*

• Recovered unreimbursed vehicle expenses for class of approximately 40,000 pizza delivery drivers (pending court approval).  The plaintiffs alleged that their hourly wages minus their unreimbursed job expenses resulted in less than minimum wage.  Durling v. Papa Johns Int’l., Inc., Case No. 16-cv-03592 (CS) (S.D.N.Y.).

• Recovered unreimbursed vehicle expenses for class totaling nearly 19,000 pizza delivery drivers.  The plaintiffs alleged that their hourly wages minus their unreimbursed job expenses resulted in less than minimum wage received on an hourly basis.  Perrin v. Papa Johns Int’l., Inc., Case No. 09-CV-1135-AGF (E.D. Mo.).

• Recovered unreimbursed job expenses for class totaling over 6,000 pizza delivery drivers.  The plaintiffs alleged that their hourly wages minus their unreimbursed job expenses resulted in less than minimum wage received on an hourly basis.  Smith v. Pizza Hut, Inc., Case No. 1:09-CV-01632-CMA-BNB (D. Colo.).

• Recovered more than $100 Million for delivery drivers around the United States to date through numerous class actions, collective actions and individual claims.

• Recovered between $5,663.79 and $37,018.14 per Papa Johns delivery driver in several individual arbitration claims against the PJ United Companies (PJ Cheese, Inc., PJ Louisiana, Inc., PJ Utah, LLC, and Ohio Pizza Delivery Co.):

  • Sarwi v. PJ Cheese, Inc. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. 01-22-0002-1162 (Green March 6, 2023) (recovered $37,018.14 for Papa Johns pizza delivery driver in Florida)
  • Ridenour v. Ohio Pizza Delivery Co. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. 01-21-0004-7137 (Ahern February 16, 2023) (recovered $5,663.79 for Papa Johns delivery driver in Ohio)
  • Benoit v. PJ Louisiana, Inc. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. AAA 01-21-004-8139 (Duval Dec. 13, 2022) (recovered $22,352.86 for Papa Johns delivery driver in Louisiana)
  • Wallenberg v. PJ Utah, LLC doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. Case No. 01-21-0004-6899 (Williams Oct. 20, 2022) (recovered $14,597.58 for Papa Johns delivery driver in Utah)
  • Jones v. PJ Cheese, Inc. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. 01-20-0015-6701 (Hill-Harvey Mar. 16, 2022) (recovered $26,122.04 for Papa Johns delivery driver in Florida).
  • Rice v. PJ Cheese, Inc. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. 01-20-0014-8150 (Bennett Mar. 14, 2022) (recovered $20,399.68 for Papa Johns delivery driver in Alabama).
  • Nelson v. PJ Cheese, Inc. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. 01-19-0001-5314 (Kimmell Oct. 20, 2020) ) (recovered $10,396.96 for Papa Johns delivery driver in Alabama).
  • Ralph v. DOS Pizza, Inc. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. 01-18-0002-2036 (Berger May 5, 2020) (recovered $17,619.18 for Domino’s delivery driver in California).
  • Ashton v. PJ Louisiana, Inc. doing business as “Papa Johns Pizza,” AAA Case No. 01-17-0006-8180 (Pilie Mar. 26, 2019) (recovered $13,894.10 for Papa Johns delivery driver in Louisiana).

Areas of Practice:

• Wage and Hour Collective and Class Actions
• Vehicle Cost Reimbursement Claims

Bar Admissions:

  • Missouri
  • Illinois
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court – Southern District of Illinois
  • U.S. Tax Court

Education:

• Washington University School of Law, Juris Doctorate (J.D.), 1993
• University of Pennsylvania, 1989, B.S. Economics, 1989

* Past results afford no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its own merits.  Case descriptions reflect only allegations pled. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.