The ruling reverses three district court decisions that had rejected retroactive application. Chief Judge Michael Brennan's opinion applied Illinois retroactivity doctrine, which presumes procedural changes apply to pending cases unless the legislature specifies otherwise. The court rejected due process challenges, reasoning that the damages cap does not alter BIPA's core liability standards—notice, consent, and data handling requirements remain unchanged under Section 15. The amendment was enacted in direct response to the Illinois Supreme Court's 2023 Cothron decision, which held that claims accrue separately for each scan or transmission, creating exposure to billion-dollar liabilities for employers using biometric systems.
Attorneys handling BIPA litigation in the Seventh Circuit—covering Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin—must immediately reassess pending cases under the new damages framework. The ruling reshapes class certification strategies and amount-in-controversy calculations for federal jurisdiction. However, the decision binds only federal courts; state courts in Illinois may reach different conclusions on retroactivity. The core BIPA duties requiring notice and consent remain enforceable, preserving some exposure for defendants, but the elimination of per-scan multipliers substantially reduces settlement leverage for plaintiffs' counsel.