The ruling applies across the Seventh Circuit's jurisdiction—Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Illinois enacted the amendment (P.A. 103-0769) in August 2024 in direct response to the Illinois Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Cothron v. White Castle Systems, Inc., which held that BIPA claims accrue separately for each biometric scan. Under BIPA's statutory damages of $1,000 per negligent violation or $5,000 per intentional violation, the per-scan framework had exposed companies to potentially massive liability. The state legislature addressed the problem; the Seventh Circuit has now clarified that this fix applies retroactively to all pending cases.
For defendants, the financial implications are substantial. Damages exposure that could have scaled to billions in aggregate class actions is now capped at a single statutory award per plaintiff. This fundamentally reshapes settlement economics in BIPA litigation. Plaintiffs' counsel will likely find cases less economically viable, potentially reducing the volume of future BIPA filings. Attorneys defending biometric privacy claims should reassess pending cases under this new damages framework.