Biometric Privacy Suit Against Union Pacific Railroad to Proceed

A proposed class action against Union Pacific Railroad Co. may proceed after an Illinois federal judge found the biometric privacy claim isn’t preempted by the Federal Railroad Safety Act.

Union Pacific’s motion to dismiss plaintiff David Fleury’s complaint was also denied because there’s no evidence Fleury consented to the collection of his biometric information, Judge Jorge Alonso wrote in an opinion filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Attorneys representing Union Pacific didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fleury, who worked as a truck driver throughout 2019, visited rail yards in Illinois ...