Persona Identities Inc., a company offering identity verification solutions, is facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly misusing personal information from Illinois residents. On October 31, 2024, James Johnson, Christine Mouser, and Abed Arman filed the complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Persona Identities Inc.
The plaintiffs accuse Persona of violating the Illinois Identification Card Act (IICA) and the Illinois Driver’s License Act (IDLA) by using personal identifiable information (PII) beyond its intended purpose. The case highlights how Persona's Verification API collects data from government-issued IDs to verify identities but allegedly used this data to train its machine learning algorithms. According to the plaintiffs, this use exceeds legal boundaries set by IICA and IDLA, which restrict such data usage solely for identification purposes.
The complaint details instances where plaintiffs provided their identification documents to Persona's clients like DoorDash and 7NOW for identity verification. However, instead of limiting the use of this PII to identity verification, Persona allegedly utilized it to enhance its AI systems—a practice deemed illegal under Illinois law. The plaintiffs argue that they were not informed about this additional use of their PII, thus infringing on their statutory rights.
The plaintiffs are seeking several forms of relief from the court. They demand declaratory and injunctive relief to ensure compliance with privacy laws, statutory damages amounting to $250 per violation for each plaintiff under both IICA and IDLA statutes, as well as reasonable attorneys' fees and litigation costs.
Representing the plaintiffs are attorneys David L. Gerbie, Colin P. Buscarini, and Jordan R. Frysinger from McGuire Law P.C., based in Chicago. The case is identified as Case No. 1:24-cv-11249.