NYC venue company MSGE loses bid to dismiss biometric privacy suit

A lawsuit in New York City over the use of face scans to prevent some lawyers from attending Madison Square Garden Entertainment events has survived a second motion to dismiss.

A judge addressing pretrial issues before the suit formally goes to court says it can proceed as a question about violating the city’s Biometric Identifier Information Protection Law. Other arguments for dismissal in case 23-cv-3380 were rejected in the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

At issue is a policy enacted by MSGE which prohibits lawyers from firms involved in cases against the entertainment firm from entering any of its iconic venues.

The company had previously installed facial recognition systems in an effort to rebuff people considered dangerous. But in June 22, the reference dataset was changed to also identify specific lawyers on the purported grounds that they could be on MSGE property for business tasks related to lawsuits.

According to the judge, MSGE made its case to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claim of unjust enrichment and civil rights violations.

The claim regarding an alleged violation of the city’s biometrics code will go forward, however.

The plaintiffs successfully argued that MSGE could “otherwise profit” from scanning the attorneys, which arguably runs afoul of the code.

Company executives are profiting from collected scans by “deterring litigation and, in turn, reducing MSG’s significant litigation expenses.”

Article Topics

biometric data  |  biometric identifiers  |  data privacy  |  facial recognition  |  lawsuits  |  New York City