Recent BIPA Opinion May Have Significant Implications On The Scope Of Section 15(b) Claims Moving Forward

Just recently, a California federal court issued a notable Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act ("BIPA") opinion in Zellmer v. Facebook, Inc., No. 18 CV 1880 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 31, 2022), which could have significant implications moving forward for companies seeking to limit their scope of liability exposure in BIPA class action litigation.  Read on to learn more and what it may mean for third-party biometric technology providers.

I.     Factual Background

Plaintiff Clayton Zellmer filed suit against Facebook in 2018 in California federal court for alleged violations of BIPA's notice and consent requirements in connection with the company's photo "tagging" feature that allegedly used facial recognition technology.  Importantly for purposes of this litigation, Zellmer filed suit despite the fact that he had never maintained an account with the company and had never even used its services.  Zellmer sought to represent a putative class of all other non-users of