Federal Court: United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Hogan v. Amazon.com, Inc., Case No. 21 C 3169
State Court: Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois
Hogan, et al. v. Amazon.com, Inc., et al., Case No. 2021 CH 2330
WBE and co-counsel brought this class action against Defendant Amazon.com Inc. for violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The purpose of BIPA is to protect the biometric privacy of persons within the State of Illinois.
The lawsuit alleges that, through its Amazon Photos service, Amazon has for years violated the Biometric Information Privacy Act by (1) collecting the biometric data of thousands—if not millions—of Illinois residents without their informed written consent in violation of §15(b) of BIPA; and (2) failing to properly ensure the security of the biometric data collected through Amazon Photos in violation of §15(e) of BIPA.
Amazon collects biometric data through the facial‑ and image‑recognition software that is built into its Amazon Photos service. The facial‑recognition software automatically scans the face geometry of any person who appears in an image uploaded to a Photos account that has image recognition enabled.
Plaintiffs initially filed this action in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, in May 2021, and the action was then removed to federal court by Amazon. In March 2022, Judge Leinenweber dismissed Plaintiffs’ claim of unjust enrichment, remanded two of their BIPA claims to state court for lack of federal jurisdiction, but allowed Plaintiffs’ §15(b) claim to proceed in federal court. Thus, Plaintiffs now have two parallel actions: a §15(b) claim in federal court and a §15(e) claim in state court.
Plaintiffs moved for class certification in the federal action in March 2024 and moved for summary judgment in November 2024. The state action is in the discovery phase.
On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tharpe Jr. of the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division denied Defendant Amazon’s motion to stay or deny without prejudice Plaintiffs summary judgement motion.
The lawsuit seeks to provide relief to Illinois residents whose biometric data was wrongfully collected, harming the substantive privacy interests that BIPA was established to protect.
To view a copy of the federal complaint, click here
To view a copy of the publicly available redacted state complaint, click here.