On January 25, 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that you do not need to have suffered damages in order to recover for violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (BIPA). This decision opens the floodgates for claims and class actions under the BIPA and renews and underscores the importance of compliance with its requirements.
The BIPA applies to the collection of biometric identifiers such as fingerprints, face or hand scans, and retina scans. The BIPA imposes requirements on the use, safeguarding, handling, storage, retention and destruction of biometric identifiers and biometric information by private entities. The BIPA provides that "aggrieved" individuals can recover $1,000 for each violation of the Act per person and $5000 if the violation was intentional or reckless. The Act also allows for a private right of action, which means that claims can be brought by individuals and not just by the Illinois Attorney General. For further details on the BIPA, see my prior Client Alert here.
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