Illinois Supreme Court Asked to Weigh in on White Castle Fingerprint Scan Class Action Lawsuit

White Castle Fingerprint Scan Class Action Lawsuit Overview:

• Who: White Castle is being sued by a former employee for failing to gain permission from employees to collect their fingerprint data.
• Why: The plaintiff says the fast food chain breached the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. An appeals court is now seeking the Illinois Supreme Court’s assistance to work out how claims are counted under the act.
• Where: The case is being heard in the Seventh Circuit court of appeal.

An Illinois Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in on a class action lawsuit alleging hamburger chain White Castle illegally collected and stored its employees fingerprints.

On Dec. 20, the Seventh Circuit court of appeal asked the Illinois Supreme Court to clarify how claims are counted under the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The court said the question has not yet been ironed out, and it would be helpful not only for the White Castle case, but others, too. 

The Seventh Circuit is currently hearing a case brought by former White Castle employee Latrina Cothron, who alleges that White Castle violated BIPA by failing to gain permission from employees to collect fingerprint data.

Cothron filed her White Castle class action lawsuit in January 2019, arguing that she had been forced to use her fingerprints to clock in and out of work at the fast food chain.

According to Cothron, White Castle failed to follow the proper BIPA procedures for collecting and storing her biometric information.

Question Is Whether New BIPA Claim Arises From Each Unlawful Data Collection 

The question going to the Illinois Supreme Court is whether a new BIPA claim arises from each and every unlawful data collection, or whether one representative claim is brought for the first breach. The appeals court panel said Dec. 20 that the Illinois Supreme Court should be able to determine the application of its own law.

“There are reasons to think that the Illinois Supreme Court might side with either Cothron or White Castle,” the panel said. “A wrong answer may also transcend the act and implicate fundamental Illinois accrual principles on which only the state’s highest court can provide authoritative guidance.”

Unlike other forms of identification, biometric markers cannot be changed if they are compromised.

If a Social Security number is compromised by a data breach, an individual is able to take action and get it changed, although the process may be arduous. The same cannot be said of fingerprints, retina scans, handprints and other biometric identifiers.

Were you a White Castle employee in Illinois? Were you required to use your fingerprint to clock in and out of work? Share your experiences in the comments section below.

The plaintiffs and proposed class members are represented by Ryan F. Stephan, James B. Zouras and Andrew C. Ficzko of Stephan Zouras LLP.

The White Castle Fingerprint Class Action Lawsuit is Latrina Cothron, et al. v. White Castle System Inc., et al., Case No. 20-3202, in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. 

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