SPAC Flop Means Court Showdown for Billionaire Sponsor Fertitta

Waitr Inc. never had the resources of rivals Grubhub Inc. and UberEats. Yet in November 2018 the online food ordering and delivery business went public through a merger with blank-check firm Landcadia Holdings Inc.

Landcadia had some powerful names behind it. Tilman Fertitta, a billionaire restaurateur, and Richard Handler, the chief executive officer of Jefferies Financial Group Inc., had raised $250 million in backing for Landcadia so that the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, could find and take public a promising startup like Waitr.

But Waitr turned out to be a disappointment. Its shares plummeted as it lost about ...