A U.S. District Court judge on Friday threw out three major cases involving hundreds of allegations of improper public-employee snooping into driver's license data, saying no federal law was violated and driver information is not private.
In three similar orders, Judge David Doty said information on drivers' licenses such as eye color, height, weight and address may be personal, but it's not private.
"The identical information can be obtained from public property tax records ... [and] there is a long history in the United States of treating motor vehicle records as public records," the judge's order said, citing a 1998 ruling from a different circuit.
Doty dismissed all federal and state claims in the three lawsuits.
His rulings are significant because the lawsuits involved hundreds of lookups that could have cost cities and counties millions of dollars. Similar electronic lookups led in the past two years to an unprecedented filing of lawsuits against cities and counties throughout the state.
Cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul are named, but so are smaller towns. Taxpayers statewide could ultimately take a hit from the rulings.
The cases dismissed involve three plaintiffs: Brian Potocnik, Johanna Beth McDonough and Brooke Nicole Bass. The three sued multiple counties and cities, claiming that the alleged snooping amounted to violations of federal law as well as their constitutional right to privacy and freedom from unreasonable search.
St. Paul City Attorney Sara Grewing hailed the decisions. "This is a major victory for municipalities," she said. "We're hopeful that this will stem the tide of these lawsuits."