The Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Sixth Division, has upheld the lower court ruling that an insurer must defend a nail salon that has been charged with sending a client's fingerprints to a third-party vendor in a violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The case is W. Bend Mut. Ins. Co. v. Krishna Schaumburg Tan, Inc., 2020 IL App (1st) 191834.

In April 2016, Klaudia Sekura filed a proposed class action complaint against Krishna Schaumburg Tan, Inc., a franchisee of L.A. Tan Enterprises Inc. In the complaint, Sekura noted that new Krishna clients are enrolled in a national membership database allowing the clients to use their membership at any L.A. Tan location. In order to sign up, Krishna required Sekura to provide a scan of her fingerprint. Despite the fact that Sekura was never asked to sign a written release to allow the salon to disclose that biometric fingerprint data to a third party, the fingerprint data was sent to a third-party, SunLync Software Inc.

West Bend Mutual Insurance Company provided Krishna with coverage, including coverage for personal injury, and agreed to defend Krishna subject to a reservation of rights, and sought a declaration for no duty to defend from the state circuit court. That court found that Sekura's claims fell within the provided coverage for personal injury because giving her fingerprints to a third-party constituted a "publication which violates a person's right to privacy."