On February 17, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) (the country’s first biometric privacy legislation) accrue for each incident of capture or dissemination of biometric information, and not only once for each data subject. Cothron v. White Castle Systems found based on the plain language
BIPA Claims Uniformly Have a 5-Year Statute of Limitations
Key Takeaways
- A Potential Increase in Claims, Costs, and Damages
- Reduce Liability Through Transparency
On February 2, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that all Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) claims are uniformly subject to a five-year statute of limitations, expanding liability for businesses collecting biometric information.[1] In Tims v. Black Horse Carriers, Inc.
Ninth Circuit Rejects Facebook’s Article III Argument; Biometric Lawsuit Will Proceed
On August 8, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued yet another decision adopting relaxed standing requirements in privacy litigation, this time in a decision permitting a plaintiff to pursue claims under Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). In Patel v. Facebook, the Ninth Circuit rejected arguments from Facebook Inc. (Facebook) that claims under the BIPA require assertions of real-world harm, and that BIPA claims only apply to conduct within Illinois. The ruling creates a circuit split on the standard for establishing Article III standing in BIPA litigation, which could prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue.
Background