David Osborne And Peter Syregelas Obtain Summary Judgment In An Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act Coverage Dispute

On behalf of an insurer client, LPP attorneys David Osborne and Peter Syregelas obtained summary judgment in an insurance coverage case arising out of a lawsuit alleging violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (BIPA). The underlying lawsuit involved a BIPA claim for the insured’s (a restaurant chain) use of fingerprint and partial handprint data to track hours and to monitor point of sale transactions made by its employees. The info was collected and stored by the insured, but never disseminated.

The circuit court of Cook County, in only the second insurance coverage case in Illinois dealing with the BIPA statute, agreed with the position that coverage for the underlying complaint was eliminated by a myriad of coverage exclusions including the “violation of law” exclusion which was recently amended to prohibit the collecting and recording of material in violation of a federal, state or local statute under subparagraph 4 of the exclusion.