Agriculture
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February 1, 2021
A former Pepperidge Farm, Incorporated (Pepperidge) employee has sued the company for violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) regarding the commercial bakery’s allegedly improper collection, use, and safeguard of employees’ handprints, which constitute biometric data protected by law. The complaint was filed against the Connecticut-based company on Jan. 29 in the Northern District of Illinois.
The plaintiff argued that the court has diversity jurisdiction over the matter because the plaintiff is a citizen of Illinois, Pepperidge a citizen of Connecticut, and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. As to the controverted figure, the complaint states that because an individual may recover between $1,000 and $5,000 in statutory damages for each BIPA violation, and the plaintiff “estimates he scanned his hand 6 times a day, 6 days a week, for his three-week term of employment, the statutory damages he is entitled to far exceed $75,000.”