A potential class action lawsuit says a parking lot management company illegally collects personal information through the use of license plate recognition cameras.
Ryan Drew filed the complaint September 6 in federal court against ParkDNA LLC.
ParkDNA, which is based in Georgia, manages private parking lots throughout Florida and the rest of the United States.
According to the complaint, ParkDNA installs license plate recognition cameras within the private parking lots it manages to capture license plates of vehicles entering and leaving the lots.
The complaint claims ParkDNA could instead use parking attendants but instead unlawfully performs DMV record lookups to avoid the costs of paying attendants.
On August 15, ParkDNA sent a letter to Drew for an outstanding parking invoice demanding payment of $85. The letter included photos of Drew’s vehicle license plate taken by the defendant’s cameras, his full name, home address and license plate number.
Drew says he never provided his name or home address to the defendant, and he never authorized defendant to obtain his personal information from any motor vehicle record.
“Defendant knowingly obtained and used plaintiff’s personal information from a record maintained by the DMV by cross referencing plaintiff’s license plate with vehicle registration data maintained by the DMV. This occurred without plaintiff’s authorization or consent. Defendant’s obtainment, disclosure and/or use of personal information from plaintiff’s motor vehicle records was not for any enumerated purposes.
“Defendant is not a government agency. Defendant was not acting on behalf of a federal, state or local agency in carrying out its function when it obtained, disclosed and used plaintiff’s personal motor vehicle record information. …
“No Florida statute authorizes defendant to use license plate readers and to obtain, disclose or use plaintiff’s personal motor vehicle record information without plaintiff’s consent or authorization.”
Drew says ParkDNA harassed and invaded his privacy and solitude by disclosing his personal and private motor vehicle record information to defendant’s vendor or vendors.
He says ParkDNA’s conduct and violation of the federal Driver’s Policy Protection Act caused him and other potential class members harm through violations of their statutory privacy rights, harassment, annoyance, nuisance, invasion of privacy and intrusion upon seclusion in a space that is personal and private to the plaintiff and other potential class members.
The DPPA was enacted in 1994 to protect the privacy of licensed drivers and to limit misuse of personal information collected within DMV records. The DPPA imposes strict rules for collecting personal information contained within DMV records and imposes liability for the collection and/or use of such personal information.
The proposed class is individuals living in the United States who have had personal information obtained, disclosed and/or used from DMV records by the defendant in the last four years through the date of class certification. The complaint says there are at least 50 members of the class.
In addition to class certification, Drew and the potential class seek statutory damages of $2,500 for each violation of the DPPA, an order declaring ParkDNA’s actions in violation of the DPPA and an injunction requiring the company to cease all future DPPA violations. They also seek attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
Drew is being represented by Manuel S. Hiraldo of Ft. Lauderdale and by Rachel Dapeer of Aventura.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida case number 3:20-cv-925