February brought big changes to the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) litigation landscape. On the heels of a catastrophic 228 million dollar jury verdict against BNSF, the Illinois Supreme Court issued an opinion in Cothron v. White Castle Systems, Inc. that could increase exponentially the damages calculations in similar BIPA cases. And to make matters murkier, just one week before the White Castle decision, an Illinois federal district court issued an opinion in favor of a BIPA defendant, interpreting the law’s health care exemption extremely broadly.
This post recaps the key requirements of BIPA, summarizes the latest cases interpreting the calculation of damages and the scope of the law’s exemptions, and describes the practical implications for companies that collect biometric information and are subject to jurisdiction in Illinois.
