The judge added that Instacart appears to have already taken steps to honor the guidelines that led to AB5, and that "relatively minor additional steps" would let it comply with the law while allowing shoppers to be true contractors.

The ban had been issued on February 18th, but wasn't served until the 24th.

It won't shock you to hear that Instacart objected to the decision. The service has successfully received a temporary stay on the injunction, and insisted in a statement that it was "in compliance with the law" and would continue to fight the issue in court. It added that it would try to keep that stay active during the appeals process to prevent service from being "disrupted" in San Diego.

California isn't likely to be deterred. Like it has said about other gig economy companies, the state believes Instacart is using the contractor status to avoid paying legally required wages and provide worker benefits. Unless the service is willing to compromise, the case will likely carry forward -- and if the judge is right, Instacart may not have much choice but to make changes.