Keypoint: The amendment limits claims and updates the definition of written release.
On August 2, 2024, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed SB 2979 into law. The bill amends the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) to limit the number of claims that can be brought under the law’s private right of action and updates the law’s definition of “written release” to include “electronic signature.” The below article provides a summary of the two changes.
Limitation of Claims
The impetus to amend BIPA’s claims provision arose out of the Illinois Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Cothron v. White Castle System, Inc. in which the court held that “the plain language of section 15(b) and 15(d) shows that a claim accrues under [BIPA] with every scan or transmission of biometric identifiers or biometric information without prior informed consent.” In its briefing, White Castle estimated that such a finding would expose it to “annihilative liability” in excess of $17 billion. The Illinois Supreme Court closed its decision by “respectfully suggest[ing] that the legislature review these policy concerns and make clear its intent regarding the assessment of damages under” BIPA.
SB 2979 addresses this issue by amending section 15(b) to provide that a “private entity that, in more than one instance, collects, captures, purchases, receives through trade, or otherwise obtains the same biometric identifier or biometric information from the same person using the same method of collection in violation of [section 15(b)] has committed a singe violation of [section 15(b)] for which the aggrieved person is entitled to, at most, one recovery under this Section.” The bill makes a similar change to section 15(d).
Written Release
The bill also updates BIPA’s definition of “written release” to include an “electronic signature.” The bill defines “electronic signature” as “an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.” The amendment was necessary to update BIPA to reflect changes in how releases are obtained since the law first took effect in 2008.
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