BELLEVILLE – Seven strip clubs invade biometric privacy, according to a pair of class action complaints in St. Clair County circuit court.
Attorney William Beaumont of Chicago filed the first complaint in July, against Illinois Restaurant Concepts and an affiliate.
“Defendants’ conduct is at best negligent and at worst reckless,” Beaumont wrote.
He identifies the defendant’s locations as Roxy’s and PT’s in Brooklyn, Penthouse and Diamond Cabaret in Sauget, and PT’s in Centreville.
The clubs “required certain individuals to scan their biometric data,” he wrote.
He claims the data included fingerprints.
He proposes to certify Illinois resident Michael Greene as class representative.
“Plaintiff and class members have not been notified where their biometric data is being stored, for how long defendants will keep the biometric data, and what might happen to this valuable information,” he wrote.
He claims the clubs didn’t inform class members that their data was recorded, collected, and stored.
He claims they didn’t inform class members of the specific purpose and the length of time for which they would store or use the data.
He claims they didn’t obtain written consent or disclose their retention schedule and guidelines for destruction.
“Given the nature of defendants’ business, members of the class will be reluctant to bring forth claims for violations of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act,” he wrote.
He seeks an order requiring the clubs to disclose to whom it has disseminated, sold, or transferred data of class members.
He seeks statutory damages of $5,000 for each willful or reckless violation of the Act and $1,000 for each negligent violation.
In August, Beaumont filed a similar complaint against Larry Troesch and his business that owns Déjà Vu clubs in Washington Park and Springfield.
In that case, he proposes to certify Illinois resident John VonBokel as class representative.
Chief Circuit Judge Andrew Gleeson assigned the first complaint to Circuit Judge William Stiehl.
He hadn’t assigned the second complaint as of Sept. 10.