PersonalizationMall.com, a Bed Bath & Beyond-affiliated online platform, has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit under Illinois' biometrics privacy law, accusing the company of improperly requiring workers to scan their fingerprints when punching the clock.
Three Chicago firms representing plaintiffs — the Law Office of Thomas M. Ryan, Law Office of James X. Bormes, and Caffarelli & Associates — filed a motion on March 15 asking U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin to approve a settlement with PersonalizationMall.com to end the lawsuit alleging the company violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act when it required workers to use a fingerprint time clock without obtaining their written consent or disclosing plans for data retention and dissemination.
From a class of 20,393 past and current PersonalizationMall.com employees, attorneys estimated class members woud collect $569 to $952 each, assuming a claims rate of 15 to 25 percent. The attorneys have not clarified their fee request, but the motion said they are allowed to seek up to a third of the gross amount, nearly $1.5 million. In asking for approval of the settlement, the plaintiffs noted they would be entitled to $1,000 for each “negligent” BIPA violation if they prevailed at trial.
The litigation dates to November 2019, when LaTonia Williams and Dequrvia Williams filled a class action complaint in Cook County Circuit Court. PersonalizationMall.com removed the complaint to federal court in January 2020 and sought an extension for its time to respond. PersonalizationMall.com said it provided screenshots of dates and times showing when the named plaintiffs allegedly signed off on consent forms that complied with BIPA, as well as evidence they reviewed a company policy for collecting, using and storing their fingerprints.
The Williamses contended the PersonalizationMall.com consent process didn’t comply with BIPA, and both parties told Durkin they reached an impasse on Feb. 28, 2020. Derrick Barnes filed his own BIPA class action against PersonalizationMall.com on March 4, 2020. After the company removed that complaint to federal court, Durkin consolidated it with the Williamses’ complaint.
PersonalizationMall.com moved to dismiss the consolidated complaint in June 2020, invoking both statutory limitations as well as pre-emption under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act and arguing the complaint didn’t have sufficient allegations of reckless or intentional conduct. In October 2020, Durkin denied the motion to dismiss while also rejecting a request to stay proceedings pending other BIPA litigation. Following that ruling, “the parties focused their efforts on settlement,” according to the March 15 motion.
An 11-hour Zoom mediation session on Oct. 26, 2021, led to a settlement agreement in principle. The class would include anyone who used PersonalizationMall.com’s fingerprint scanning system in Illinois from May 2016 through April 2020. In order to collect a payment, class members will need to submit a claim form.
According to the motion, PersonalizationMall.com stopped using the scanning system in April 2020 and destroyed all data it had collected and stored in preceding years. It also asserted it neither disclosed nor transferred biometric data to third parties.
Analytics Consulting estimates it will collect $76,504 for its role as settlement administrator, roughly $3.75 per class member, but said it will not request more than $100,000 from the gross fund. The three named plaintiffs will seek $7,500 each in incentive awards.
PersonalizationMall.com has been represented by attorneys Justin O. Kay and Christina R. Chapin, of the firm of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, of Chicago.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Thomas M. Ryan; James X. Bormes and Catherine P. Sons, of the Bormes firm; and Alejandro Caffarelli, Lorrie T. Peeters and Katherine Stryker, of the Caffarelli firm, all of Chicago.