Civil Plaintiff
BNSF Agrees to Pay Truck Drivers $228M for Violating Illinois State Law
A jury has ordered freight railway giant BNSF Railway Co to pay $228 million to tens of thousands of truck drivers after finding the company collected the drivers’ fingerprints without consent.
The verdict, handed Wednesday evening in Chicago federal court, came after the first trial under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), a state law which restricts collection of biometric data like fingerprints or retinal scans.
“We’re very pleased with the verdict and it shows that privacy is important and that companies must comply with the law, and will be held accountable if they don’t,” said David Gerbie of McGuire Law, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
