In 2021, a federal judge chose Loevy + Loevy to lead an internationally-regarded class action out of a wide field of talented attorneys.. The facial recognition company Clearview had garnered global controversy by scraping billions of images off social media platforms to create a massive, invasive facial recognition database. Loevy + Loevy’s class action lawsuit alleged that this database violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), and that Clearview illegally sold this database to law enforcement agencies and private companies.
In June 2024 Clearview agreed to a unique and novel settlement of all privacy claims against it, and in March 2025 a U.S. judge in Chicago approved that settlement. Because Clearview had few assets with which to compensate the class, Loevy devised a first-of-its-kind deal which gives class members a 23 percent stake in the company if it goes public or is sold. At current potential valuations, that would be about $52 million, and the class could also decide to take 17% of the company’s revenue through September 2027, according to a motion seeking the initial approval for the settlement.
“This structure both provides meaningful relief to the class and flexibility in how to best realize value from its stake in Clearview,” plaintiffs’ lawyers from Loevy & Loevy said in the court filing.
According to Jon Loevy of Loevy & Loevy, Clearview “did not have anywhere near the cash to pay fair compensation to the class, so we needed to find a creative solution,” says Jon Loevy. The class members “now get to participate in any profits that are ultimately generated, thereby recapturing to some extent the ownership of their biometrics.”
“This structure both provides meaningful relief to the class and flexibility in how to best realize value from its stake in Clearview,” attorneys for Loevy & Loevy said in the court filing.
Plaintiffs were represented by Jon Loevy, Michael Kanovitz, and Thomas Hanson.
