First Settlement Reached Under Illinois Biometric Law

Are laws that govern how companies store and handle biometric data, such as fingerprints, the next frontier for the plaintiff’s bar?

Possibly, although it’s still early days.

On Thursday, a judge in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago issued final approval for a $1.5 million settlement between L.A. Tan Enterprises Inc. and a class of the franchise’s customers who claim it failed to properly handle their biometric information. Biometric data refers to fingerprints, DNA and other often physiological characteristics that can be used to identify a human being.

Lawyers from the firm Edelson say it is the first settlement reached under Illinois’ Biometric ...