The perils of BIPA continue to increase with the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in Cothron v. White Castle System, Inc., which held that a claim under BIPA accrues each time biometric information is collected and disclosed rather than accruing on the first collection or disclosure of such information.

In light of the recent large settlements and this even larger jury verdict for violations of BIPA, companies doing business in Illinois should expect more BIPA suits with even higher settlement demands and should closely monitor any biometric information that may be collected from residents of Illinois (by the company or its vendors) to ensure that any such collection complies with BIPA.

Google, Snapchat, Facebook, and TikTok have all recently settled multi-million dollar class action claims for alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). What is BIPA, and why are tech companies paying out millions of dollars for violating it?