{ "attribution": { "source": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:20-f-4th-1156", "cite_as": "NovaCopilot, legal.exploreworldai.com (https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:20-f-4th-1156)", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/revision", "version": "legal-2026-10-13", "fingerprint": "ewai:us:97516d", "proof": "sha256:a23c7b3cb2d3d3ebd1df5ff82b3cb160ebbc66f22ebff06b42240b78e41dba0a", "jurisdiction": "us", "lang": "en", "publisher": "NovaCopilot by ExploreWorld Legal", "terms": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/om" }, "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "item": { "schema_version": "1.0.0", "id": "us:20-f-4th-1156", "jurisdiction": "us", "lang": "en", "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "brand": { "product": "NovaCopilot", "platform": "ExploreWorldAI", "infrastructure": "ExploreWorld Legal", "infrastructure_url": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "legal_entity": "Valkiv Ventures AB", "permanent_url": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/novacopilot", "source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "powered_by": "Powered by NovaCopilot", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/licensvillkor" }, "sections": [ { "title": "Front matter", "paragraphs": [ "para_1", "para_2", "para_3", "para_4", "para_5", "para_6", "para_7", "para_8", "para_9", "para_10", "para_11", "para_12", "para_13", "para_14", "para_15", "para_16", "para_17", "para_18", "para_19", "para_20", "para_21", "para_22", "para_23", "para_24", "para_25", "para_26", "para_27", "para_28", "para_29", "para_30", "para_31", "para_32", "para_33", "para_34", "para_35", "para_36", "para_37", "para_38", "para_39", "para_40", "para_41", "para_42", "para_43", "para_44", "para_45", "para_46", "para_47", "para_48", "para_49", "para_50", "para_51", "para_52", "para_53", "para_54", "para_55", "para_56", "para_57", "para_58", "para_59", "para_60", "para_61", "para_62", "para_63", "para_64", "para_65", "para_66", "para_67", "para_68", "para_69", "para_70", "para_71", "para_72", "para_73", "para_74", "para_75", "para_76", "para_77", "para_78" ], "kind": "front_matter" } ], "paragraphs": [ { "text": "In the", "paragraph_id": "para_1" }, { "text": "United States Court of Appeals", "paragraph_id": "para_2" }, { "text": "for the Seventh Circuit", "paragraph_id": "para_3" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_4" }, { "text": "No. 20-3202", "paragraph_id": "para_5" }, { "text": "LATRINA COTHRON, individually and", "paragraph_id": "para_6" }, { "text": "on behalf of all others similarly situated,", "paragraph_id": "para_7" }, { "text": "Plaintiff-Appellee,", "paragraph_id": "para_8" }, { "text": "v.", "paragraph_id": "para_9" }, { "text": "WHITE CASTLE SYSTEM, INC.,", "paragraph_id": "para_10" }, { "text": "Defendant-Appellant.", "paragraph_id": "para_11" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "Appeal from the United States District Court for the", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "No. 19 CV 00382 — John J. Tharp, Jr., Judge.", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "SUBMITTED AUGUST 14, 2023 — DECIDED AUGUST 23, 2023", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "____________________", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "Before SYKES, Chief Judge, and EASTERBROOK and", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "SYKES, Chief Judge. In December 2018 Latrina Cothron", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in Illinois state court", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "against White Castle System, Inc., her employer. For many", "paragraph_id": "para_23" }, { "text": "years Cothron has worked as a manager at one of White", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "Castle’s hamburger restaurants in Illinois; her suit accuses", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "the company of violating the Illinois Biometric Information", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "2 No. 20-3202", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "Privacy Act, 740 ILL. COMP. STAT. 14/1 et seq., by failing to", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "obtain her written consent before implementing a", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "fingerprint-scanning system that requires her to scan her", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "fingerprints to access her work computer and payment", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "records.", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "White Castle removed the case to federal court and later", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "sought judgment on the pleadings, arguing that Cothron’s", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "suit was untimely because her claim accrued in 2008 with", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "her first fingerprint scan after the Act’s effective date.", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "Cothron countered that a new claim accrued with each", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "fingerprint scan—not just the first one—so her suit was", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "timely with respect to any scans without her consent that", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "occurred within the limitations period.", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "The district judge agreed with Cothron’s claim-accrual", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "theory and denied the motion, but he certified his order for", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "immediate appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). Because the", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "order involved a controlling question of law on which there", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "was substantial ground for disagreement, we accepted the", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "interlocutory appeal. Cothron v. White Castle Sys., Inc.,", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "20 F.4th 1156, 1160 (7th Cir. 2021).", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "Following oral argument, we certified the novel timeli-", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "ness question—namely, whether a claim accrues under the", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "Act with each unlawful biometric scan or only the first one—", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "to the Illinois Supreme Court. Id. at 1166–67. The state su-", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "preme court accepted the certification and has now an-", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "swered the question, holding that “a separate claim accrues", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "under the Act each time a private entity scans or transmits", "paragraph_id": "para_54" }, { "text": "an individual’s biometric identifier or information in viola-", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "tion of section 15(b) or 15(d)” of the Act. Cothron v. White", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "Castle Sys., Inc., 2023 WL 4567389, at *1 (Ill. Feb. 17, 2023) as", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "modified on denial of reh’g (July 18, 2023).", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "No. 20-3202 3", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "After denying White Castle’s motion for rehearing, the", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "Illinois Supreme Court issued its mandate on August 22. In", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "the meantime we had directed the parties to file position", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "statements under Circuit Rule 52(b). They have done so.", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "Cothron asks us to lift the stay in this case and enter an order", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "consistent with the state supreme court’s answer to the", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "certified question. White Castle asks us to expand the inter-", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "locutory appeal to include new questions concerning the", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "scope of a possible damages award and constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "arguments under the Due Process and Excessive Fines", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "Clauses.", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "The order before us concerned only the timeliness of", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "Cothron’s suit. The Illinois Supreme Court’s answer to the", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "certified question makes it clear that the suit is timely with", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "respect to some of the allegedly unlawful fingerprint scans.", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "That resolves this appeal. Accordingly, we lift the stay and", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "affirm the district court’s order denying White Castle’s", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "motion for judgment on the pleadings.", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "AFFIRMED", "paragraph_id": "para_78" } ], "word_count": 570, "cites": [ "20 F.4th 1156" ], "cited_by": [], "sha256": "a4d7d07adcab97e1265c33908faa327e9d48fc72947adbf63b64553e8ff76b34", "source_url": "https://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/OpinionsWeb/processWebInputExternal.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2023/D08-23/C:20-3202:J:Sykes:aut:T:fnOp:N:3093787:S:0", "fetched_at": "2026-10-02T05:45:48.669+00:00", "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/ai/judgments/us/20-f-4th-1156", "risk_graph": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/risk?id=us:20-f-4th-1156", "relations_graph": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/relations?id=us:20-f-4th-1156", "changes": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/us-praxis/changes", "agent": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/us-praxis/agent?id=us:20-f-4th-1156", "verification": { "stored_sha256": "a4d7d07adcab97e1265c33908faa327e9d48fc72947adbf63b64553e8ff76b34", "recomputed_sha256": "a4d7d07adcab97e1265c33908faa327e9d48fc72947adbf63b64553e8ff76b34", "intact": true, "checked_at": "2026-10-13T07:17:28.982Z" } }, "hash": "sha256:a23c7b3cb2d3d3ebd1df5ff82b3cb160ebbc66f22ebff06b42240b78e41dba0a", "version": "legal-2026-10-13", "expires": "2026-10-14T00:00:00.000Z", "dependency": { "index_version": "legal-2026-10-13+legal-2026-10-13+2026-10-13T06:48:39", "content_hash": "sha256:a23c7b3cb2d3d3ebd1df5ff82b3cb160ebbc66f22ebff06b42240b78e41dba0a", "revalidate_after": "2026-10-13T08:17:29.140Z", "max_copy_age_seconds": 3600, "policy": "revalidate-required; attribution-preferred", "changelog": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/dependency", "verify": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/verify", "stale_copy_invalid": true }, "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:20-f-4th-1156", "follow": [ { "rel": "risk", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/risk?id=us:20-f-4th-1156" }, { "rel": "relations", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/relations?id=us:20-f-4th-1156" }, { "rel": "agent", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/us-praxis/agent?id=us:20-f-4th-1156" }, { "rel": "obligations", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/obligation-chain" }, { "rel": "changes", "href": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/whats-new?jurisdiction=us" } ], "disclaimer": "Source reference with official identifier. 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