Appeals Court Tackles ‘3-D Chess’ in BIPA, Insurance Dispute

Federal appellate judges wrestled Monday with how to apply a complex web of judicial opinions in a dispute over whether a sauce-supply company must be indemnified from claimed violations of a landmark Illinois privacy law.

The swirl of case law and the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act’s exemption language results in judges having to play a game of “three-dimensional chess,” Judge Michael B. Brennan said.

Mullins Food Products Inc. was sued under BIPA for allegedly using biometric scans to monitor workers’ time and then sharing that data with a third party. It is seeking indemnification from Citizens Insurance Company of ...