A class action lawsuit has accused the operator of a San Francisco parking garage of allegedly improperly scanning and reading license plates on cars as they entered and exited the facility, allegedly wrongly tracking people's movements and invading privacy.
The lawsuit was filed Feb. 26 in San Francisco County Superior Court against Parking Concepts Inc., by named plaintiff Brendan P. Bartholomew, of Pacifica.
The lawsuit claims that the company uses Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems without authorization or notice to track people's movements. This system allegedly captures license plate information, location, date, and time as vehicles enter and exit the 1635 Divisadero Medical Center Parking Garage, without their knowledge or consent.
According to the filing, the scanned license plate information constitutes personally identifiable information (PII) and is therefore entitled to protection under California law. The suit also alleges that no notice of the use of ALPR systems is provided in the parking garage.
The plaintiff argues that had he known about the use of ALPR systems capturing PII, he would not have used the parking facility.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of alleged failure to implement a compliant privacy policy, violation of the Unfair Competition Law, negligence and violation of California's constitutional right to privacy.
The lawsuit seeks actual and punitive damages of at least $2,500 per alleged violation.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys L. Timothy Fisher and Brittany S. Scott, of the firm of Bursor & Fisher, of Walnut Creek.