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Two Recent BIPA Cases of Note
Two recent decisions on the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), one a victory and the other a major loss, deserve an examination.
Bad News: This week a Chicago federal jury ruled against railroad BNSF in the first BIPA case to go to trial. In Rogers v. BNSF, the jury ruled that by collecting truck driver fingerprints as they entered BNSF yards, the railroad intentionally violated the BIPA statute over 45,000 times. An intentional or reckless violation carries a penalty of $5,000 per violation. This means the railroad is on the hook for up to $228 million in damages. BNSF attempted to shift blame onto a vendor serving as an independent contractor. The jury disagreed in less than an hour. BNSF will surely appeal.
The previous 1,000+ BIPA cases have settled out of court. It will be interesting to see what appellate judges think as to the proportionality of the damages to the actual harm caused here.
Good News: In Svoboda v. Frames for America, plaintiffs sued an eyeglasses maker over the use of their virtual try-on software. The federal court found that this activity was exempt under BIPA’s healthcare exemption. This was true for both prescription and non-prescription lenses as they protect vision.
In Case You Missed It...Oppose Constitutional Amendment 1: Fact Sheet
The Illinois Chamber Employment Law Council has provided an explanation of why the business community should oppose Constitutional Amendment 1 which will appear on ballots next month. Provided below is a link to that explanation.
The Constitutional Amendment before the voters is framed as a ”workers’ rights” issue with the effect of banning right to work laws in Illinois. If approved, its impact will be far-reaching and completely change the landscape of collective bargaining for private employers and their employees in the state. The constitutional question seeks to elevate workers’ rights to collectively bargain to a level not contemplated under federal law and expands the subjects over which employers and unions can negotiate. The Constitutional Amendment creates a significant conflict between federal and state law. The broad, undefined terms used in the Amendment, will create legal uncertainties that will result in costly, piecemeal litigation for workers and employers. We are aware of no other state that provides the constitutional protections this change will provide.
View the Fact Sheet on why the Illinois business community should oppose Amendment 1 here.
If you have any thoughts or questions please reach out to Jay Shattuck at jfshattuck@michaelbeststrategies.com or Aaron Harris at adharris@michaelbeststrategies.com
IDOI Calls on Insurers to Disclose Climate-Related Risks
The Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) will now require that insurance companies licensed to write business in the state complete an annual survey detailing the risks of climate change to their business operations, assets, and investments, as well as their plans to address those risks.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)* Climate Risk and Resiliency Task Force recently updated the disclosure survey to align with the standard set by the international Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
IDOI issued Company Bulletin 2022-16 requiring all Illinois licensed insurance companies writing $100 million or more in direct premium nationwide to fill out the annual NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey. Companies that have not previously submitted a survey response via a participating state will be granted an extension until August 30, 2023.Illinois joins 15 other states/territories requesting that insurers complete the survey, including CA, CT, DE, the District of Columbia, ME, MD, MA, MN, NM, NY, OR, PA, RI, VT, and WA. For reporting year 2020, more than 1,400 companies responded to the disclosure surveys, capturing nearly 80% of the entire U.S. insurance market. The results can be found here.
Read the full IDOI release here.
Illinois Chamber: 2022 Illinois Economy Factbook
The Illinois Chamber is proud to present our new and innovative resource called the '2022 Illinois Economy Factbook.’ This document is brought to you by the collective work of many of the Chamber Council Directors. In the Factbook, you will find charts, rankings, and other helpful economic-related data from each of our core policy areas. This is our first year with this project, and we would love to expand upon it in the future. We were proud to present this item to each attendee at the 2022 Annual Meeting.
View and download the factbook here.
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