Carolyn Martin was quoted in the Bloomberg Law article, “Biometric Privacy Perils Grow After BNSF Loses Landmark Verdict” by Skye Witley, Christopher Brown and Paige Smith. On October 12, 2022, a federal grand jury found after only one hour of deliberation that BNSF violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting fingerprints from more than 45,000 truck drivers as a form of identity verification without first obtaining the proper consent. Later the same day, the Judge ordered the company to pay $228 million in damages. Carolyn and other commentators agreed that this decision will have considerable impact on the litigation landscape, but she pointed out that the impact of the decision should occur much sooner, as companies vet potential subcontractors to determine their capabilities and adherence to the informed consent provisions of BIPA, negotiate agreements with subcontractors with the requirements of BIPA in mind, and insure either directly or indirectly through their subs that the requirements articulated in the statute are met. For more information on the legal issues related to the collection of biometric data, please see a number of related articles by Lutzker & Lutzker, here, here, and here.
