A new class action lawsuit has accused online background report service Social Catfish of violating an Illinois right of publicity law by using people's names and other personal information to sell their products.
The company's practices allegedly violate the Illinois Right of Publicity Act, according to the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court filed by named plaintiffs Leroy Jacobs and Jocelyn Roberts.
The law, enacted in 1999, prohibits anyone from "using an individual’s identity for commercial purposes during the individual’s lifetime without having obtained previous written consent from the appropriate person," the lawsuit states.
Social Catfish offers users a free search of a person's name and demographic information, the suit claims.
"The purpose of Social Catfish’s free preview is simple: to advertise a monthly subscription that allows one to access and retrieve unlimited reports detailing various data points on anyone contained in the Social Catfish’s database, including pictures, phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, job histories, and social media profiles," the lawsuit states.
In 2023, Jacobs allegedly "discovered that Social Catfish was using his identity to solicit the purchase of paid subscriptions to SocialCatfish.com," the suit says. "On its marketing page, Social Catfish specifically identified Plaintiff Jacobs by his first and last name, along with his current and former city of residence.. At no point did Plaintiff Jacobs provide Social Catfish with consent (written or otherwise) to use any attribute of his identity to advertise paid subscriptions to SocialCatfish.com, or for any other commercial purposes."
Jacobs has never been a SocialCatfish customer, according to the suit.
"He has never subscribed to SocialCatfish.com or had a relationship of any kind with Social Catfish," according to the lawsuit.
Roberts allegedly had a similar experience with the company, the suit said.
The lawsuit seeks to include a class of additional plaintiffs, including all "Illinois residents whose identities were displayed on Social Catfish’s marketing page" within the past year.
The lawsuit seeks either actual damages from the alleged violations of the law or $1,000 per violation, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees and legal costs.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Keith J. Keogh and Gregg M. Barbakoff, of Keogh Law, of Chicago.