L.A. Tan, a tanning salon chain, will pay $1.5 million to settle violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by obtaining customer fingerprints without their consent and failing to properly inform them of how the data would be stored. Each class member will receive between $125 to $150. Counsel to the class will receive $600,000 and the class representative, Klaudia Sekura, will receive $5,000. The settlement class includes customers who had their fingerprints scanned at an Illinois L.A. Tan salon between November 13, 2013, and August 11, 2016.

BIPA requires that individuals give their written permission before any biometric identifiers (like fingerprints in this case) are collected by a business. It also requires proper notification about how the data will be stored, used and destroyed, and prohibits the selling of the information.

Cook County Circuit Judge Rodolfo Garcia said in his decision, “The court finds that the consideration to be paid to members of the settlement class is reasonable, considering the facts and circumstances of the claims and affirmative defenses available in the action and the potential risks and likelihood of success of alternatively pursuing trials on the merits.” This marks the first settlement under the Act.

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