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State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Tony's Finer Foods Enters.

State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Tony's Finer Foods Enters.

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division

March 8, 2022, Decided; March 8, 2022, Filed

Case No. 20-cv-6199

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

This case involves insurance coverage for a claim in state court under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act ("BIPA") against a grocery store chain known as Tony's. The insurer, State Automobile Mutual Insurance Company, filed suit for a declaratory judgment about its duty to defend. State Automobile later moved for summary judgment.

For the reasons stated below, State Automobile's motion for summary judgment is hereby denied.

Background

Tony's is a family-owned [*2]  and family-operated grocery store chain with 16 locations in Chicagoland. See Pl.'s Resp. to Defs.' Statement of Facts, at ¶ 1 (Dckt. No. 28). This case involves three relatives in the corporate family: (1) Tony's Finer Foods Enterprises, Inc., (2) Tony's Finer Foods No. 6, Inc., and (3) Tony's Finer Foods No. 9, Inc. (collectively, "Tony's").

In December 2018, Charlene Figueroa, a former employee, filed suit against Tony's in state court under the Biometric Information Privacy Act ("BIPA"). See Defs.' Resp. to Pl.'s Statement of Facts, at ¶¶ 18, 22 (Dckt. No. 26); State Ct. Cplt., at ¶¶ 103-04 (Dckt. No. 1-4); Igraffia Decl., at ¶ 3 (Dckt. No. 27-1); see also 740 ILCS 14/1. She worked for Tony's from March 2017 to September 2018. See State Ct. Cplt., at ¶ 48.

According to the state court complaint, Tony's takes the fingerprints of each employee that it hires. See Defs.' Resp. to Pl.'s Statement of Facts, at ¶ 22 (Dckt. No. 26); State Ct. Cplt., at ¶ 37 (Dckt. No. 1-4). Employees use their fingerprints to clock in and out of work. See Defs.' Resp. to Pl.'s Statement of Facts, at ¶ 22; State Ct. Cplt., at ¶ 38. That practice, according to Figueroa, violates BIPA.

Tony's received service of process [*3]  on January 8, 2019, and filed an appearance within a week. See Defs.' Resp. to Pl.'s Statement of Facts, at ¶¶ 19-20 (Dckt. No. 26).

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2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40567 *

STATE AUTOMOBILE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. TONY'S FINER FOODS ENTERPRISES, INC., TONY'S FINER FOODS NO. 6, INC., TONY'S FINER FOODS NO. 9, INC., and CHARLENE FIGUEROA, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated , Defendants.

CORE TERMS

insurer, state court, notice, coverage, practices, insurance policy, policies, employment-related, summary judgment, parties, words, notified, employees, exhaustive, suggests, broker, fingerprinting, genuine, lawsuit, Foods, duty to defend, defamation, harassment, ambiguity, happened, joined, terms, hire