Lawsuit: Progressive Insurance, WI Law Firm Illegally Disclosed Driver’s License Numbers

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A Wisconsin man claims in a proposed class action lawsuit that defendants Progressive Classic Insurance Company and Kohn Law Firm, S.C. unlawfully disclosed in court filings consumers’ legally protected personal information, i.e. driver’s license numbers, in violation of the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (DPPA).

The lawsuit notes that Progressive sued the plaintiff (and a non-party to this suit) for damages in December 2013 after the man was involved in a car accident with someone insured by the company. Progressive obtained a judgment against the plaintiff and the non-party individual in April 2014, the case says. In August 2014, Progressive and Kohn Law Firm reportedly filed a request to notify the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles of the unpaid judgment against the plaintiff. The filing, the lawsuit says, included both a cover letter and form.

The lawsuit claims both the cover letter and form sent by the defendants in August 2014 included the plaintiff’s unredacted driver’s license number “for filing purposes,” an alleged DPPA violation. The case claims the same scenario played out again in October 2014, when the plaintiff’s unredacted driver’s license number was again printed in full in another cover letter. All told, the lawsuit claims the plaintiff's rights under the DPPA were violated on three separate occasions by the defendants.

“[The defendants’] filings with the court, which included [the plaintiff’s] unredacted private information obtained from a state motor vehicle record, exposed [the plaintiff] to potential identity theft and risk to his safety and security, in violation of the DPPA,” the lawsuit summarizes.