Amazon class action overview:
- Who: An Illinois federal judge certified a class of roughly 1.2 million users of Amazon’s Alexa.
- Why: The judge found the Amazon Alexa users satisfied a requirement that a class action be superior to other methods of adjudicating a case.
- Where: The Amazon class action was filed in Illinois federal court.
An Illinois federal judge certified a class of roughly 1.2 million users of Amazon’s Alexa in a class action lawsuit alleging the company unlawfully collected their voice data.
The Amazon Alexa users allege Amazon unlawfully collected their biometric voice data by creating voiceprints without getting their permission, in violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
The law requires companies to get a person’s informed, written consent before collecting or obtaining their biometric data, such as a voiceprint.
U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama certified the class of “all natural persons in Illinois for whom Amazon created a voiceprint on or after June 27, 2014” in a Nov. 6 order that was filed publicly Wednesday in Illinois federal court.
Valderrama found the Amazon Alexa users in the lawsuit satisfied a requirement that a class action be superior to other methods of adjudicating a case, ruling a case-by-case resolution of the class members’ claims “would be an inefficient use of judicial and party resources.”
Amazon to appeal class certification order
Valderrama allowed two of the three proposed class representatives to represent the class, finding they “are enrolled users in Amazon Alexa, allegedly suffered the same statutory violations, and are entitled to the same statutory damages per violation.”
The judge ruled a third proposed class representative was not adequate since they were “subject to arguable defenses that the court finds to be atypical of the class.”
Amazon intends to appeal Valderrama’s class certification order, according to a joint status report filed Nov. 14.
If Amazon’s petition for permission to appeal is granted, the company intends to seek a stay of the case until the Seventh Circuit issues a ruling on whether class certification was proper, according to the report.
Earlier this year, a district judge certified a class action filed in Washington federal court alleging Amazon Alexa unlawfully recorded and stored information.
Amazon also stands accused of misleading customers about their rights to digital content they purchased through the company’s Amazon Prime Video platform.
Have you ever used Amazon’s Alexa? Let us know in the comments.
The Amazon Alexa users are represented by Michael Aschenbrener, Scott A. Kamber and Deborah Kravitz of KamberLaw; Gerald J. Bekkerman, Bradley N. Pollock, Sean P. Murray and Marc A. Taxman of Taxman Pollock Murray & Bekkerman LLC; James Frickleton of Bartimus Frickleton Robertson Rader; Thomas P. Rosenfeld and Kevin P. Green of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli PC; and Brandon M. Wise of Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway LLP.
The Amazon class action lawsuit is Michael Gunderson, et al. v. Amazon.com Inc., et al., Case No. 1:19-cv-05061, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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