Verdell Pointe apartments in Folsom sit directly behind a Kaiser Permanente medical campus. To get home, residents and their guests have to drive up one of the streets flanking Kaiser, streets where Kaiser has installed automated license plate cameras. You do not need to have ever set foot inside that Kaiser as a patient for your plate to be logged.
Kaiser Permanente’s Folsom Medical Offices sit at 2155 Iron Point Rd in Folsom, California. Directly behind that campus, at 2137 Iron Point Rd, is Verdell Pointe, an apartment community of studio, one, two, and three-bedroom units. Because of how the two properties sit next to each other, cars headed to or from Verdell Pointe generally have to travel up one of the streets that flank the Kaiser campus to reach the apartments.
Emery | Reddy has learned that Kaiser has installed automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, the kind made by Flock Safety, along those flanking streets. That means the license plates of Verdell Pointe residents, their guests, delivery drivers, and anyone else simply driving home are being captured by a hospital system’s surveillance cameras, regardless of whether that person has ever been a Kaiser patient or member.
Why This Case Is Different
Most license plate camera investigations focus on a business’s own customers, shoppers who drove into a store’s parking lot and had their plate scanned on the way in. This is different. The people affected here are not Kaiser patients making a healthcare decision to visit a Kaiser facility. They are Folsom residents and visitors whose only connection to Kaiser is that its campus happens to sit between them and their own front door.
If you live at or regularly visit Verdell Pointe and you are not a Kaiser member, you may still be one of the people whose license plate has been logged, timestamped, and stored by a hospital system you have no relationship with.
California Law Requires a Public Privacy Policy
California regulates private ALPR use under Civil Code Sections 1798.90.51 through 1798.90.55. Any entity, including a healthcare system like Kaiser, that operates an ALPR system must write a usage and privacy policy covering specific points, including:
- Why the entity is authorized to use the system
- How long the entity keeps the data it collects
- Who the entity shares the data with, including law enforcement
- How the entity audits its own compliance with the policy
That policy must be posted somewhere the public can actually find it. The law does not carve out an exception for people who are merely driving past on their way home rather than visiting as a customer or patient. A person does not have to prove their data was misused or shared to have a claim. A business or healthcare entity that fails to meet these requirements can be liable for statutory damages.
What We Are Investigating
Emery | Reddy is investigating whether Kaiser Permanente’s Folsom Medical Offices are operating their license plate cameras in compliance with California’s ALPR Privacy Act, including whether a compliant usage and privacy policy has been written and posted where the public, including Verdell Pointe residents and visitors with no connection to Kaiser, can find it.
If you live at or visit Verdell Pointe and are not a Kaiser member, and you have driven on Iron Point Rd or the streets flanking the Kaiser campus, your license plate may have been scanned and logged. You do not need to have noticed a camera, or a policy, or the lack of one, to have a potential claim.
Do You Have Legal Options?
Entities that operate license plate readers in California, including hospital systems and medical office campuses, have a legal duty to write and publicly post a compliant privacy policy. If Kaiser’s Folsom campus did not meet that duty, people who drove past it to reach Verdell Pointe may have a claim worth pursuing, whether or not they have ever been a Kaiser patient.
If you live at or visit Verdell Pointe in Folsom, California, and you are not a Kaiser member, contact the Data Privacy Attorneys at Emery | Reddy for a Free Case Review.
Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve never been a Kaiser patient. Can I still have a claim?
Yes. California’s ALPR Privacy Act is not limited to a business’s own customers or patients. If your license plate was scanned by Kaiser’s cameras simply because you drove past the campus to reach Verdell Pointe, you may have a claim regardless of your relationship with Kaiser.
What is an automated license plate reader (ALPR)?
An ALPR is a camera system that reads a passing car’s license plate and turns it into searchable data. Flock Safety’s systems, which we believe are installed on the streets flanking Kaiser’s Folsom campus, also typically record the date, time, and location of each scan.
How do I know if I was affected?
If you live at or regularly visit Verdell Pointe apartments at 2137 Iron Point Rd in Folsom and you have driven on Iron Point Rd or the streets bordering the Kaiser Permanente Folsom Medical Offices campus, your plate may have been captured.
Do I have to prove my license plate data was misused to have a claim?
No. Under California’s ALPR Privacy Act, an entity can be liable simply for failing to write and post a required usage and privacy policy. You do not have to prove the data was shared or misused.
How much can a violation be worth?
The statute sets a minimum of $2,500 in statutory damages per person, per violation. The exact value of a claim depends on the facts of each case.
Do I have a legal claim?
You may. Entities that operate license plate readers in California have a legal duty to write and publicly post a compliant privacy policy, regardless of whether the person scanned is a customer, a patient, or simply a neighbor driving home. If you live at or visit Verdell Pointe and are not a Kaiser member, contact the Data Privacy Attorneys at Emery | Reddy at 916.995.5968 or www.emeryreddy.com for a Free Case Review. No Fee Unless We Recover.
