Frederick Giles, Marcus Jones, and Craig Riddle have filed a lawsuit against Sabert Corporation in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The case, numbered 1:24-cv-02996, was filed on April 15, 2024. The plaintiffs allege that Sabert Corporation unlawfully collected, used, and disclosed their personal biometric identifiers and information in violation of the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
The plaintiffs are all domiciled in Illinois while the defendant is a New Jersey corporation conducting business in Illinois. The court has jurisdiction over this matter as it involves citizens from different states and the controversy exceeds $75,000 exclusive of punitive damages, interest, and costs.
Sabert Corporation operates a worldwide packaging and food service company with a facility in Chicago where all three plaintiffs worked. As part of their employment, they were required to enroll in Sabert's third-party biometric system using scans of their fingerprints or hand geometry which were stored on a database along with their identity information.
The plaintiffs are seeking statutory liquidated damages of $1,000 for each negligent violation of BIPA and $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation. They allege that there were not less than 700 BIPA violations.