A class action lawsuit under Illinois’ biometrics privacy law against national salad restaurant chain Sweetgreen has been withdrawn almost as quickly as it was filed.
On Feb. 5, Cook County Circuit Judge Pamela Meyerson signed off on a request from the plaintiffs to withdraw their legal action, which had accused the restaurant chain of requiring its workers at its Illinois locations to scan their fingerprints when punching in and out of work shifts, in a way that allegedly violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
The lawsuit had been filed by attorneys Carl V. Malmstrom, of the firm of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, of Chicago, and Joseph I. Marchese and Philip L. Fraietta, of the firm of Bursor & Fisher P.A., of New York.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Ramona Graham, of Cook County, who worked at a Sweetgreen restaurant in Illinois for about 10 months in 2019.
According to an email from an attorney representing Sweetgreen, the withdrawal came after the restaurant chain’s lawyers pointed out to the plaintiffs’ lawyers that their lead plaintiff in the action had actually signed a document authorizing Sweetgreen to scan her fingerprint for work purposes.
Further, Graham had allegedly also signed a document in which she acknowledged “her understanding of Sweet Green’s fingerprint scanning policy which complied with the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act.”
Sweetgreen attorney David Haase, of the Littler firm, of Chicago, said “the filing of the lawsuit was not due to any error attributable to Ms. Graham’s attorneys.”