Bringing down the gavel

In case you needed one, here’s another reason to be careful about what you post on Facebook. An age discrimination case that originates back to 2010 between Patrick Snay and the Miami-based Gulliver Preparatory School began when “Gulliver declined to renew Snay’s contract following years of employment” (Smiley, Miami Herald, 2014). The case took a surprising turn when Mr. Snay’s daughter, Dana Snay posted an antagonistic comment on Facebook. The comment, which was seen by Dana Snay’s approximately 1,200 Facebook friends, stated “Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT” (Stucker, CNN, 2014). Unfortunately for the Snays, Dana’s comment was posted just days before the deal was set to be finalized.

The age discrimination case was originally settled back in November of 2011, when the school “agreed to pay checks of $10,000 in back wages, another $60,000 to Snay’s attorneys, and an $80,000 settlement to Snay” (Smiley, Miami Herald, 2014). Included in the settlement agreement between Snay and the school was a stipulation that Patrick Snay and his wife keep confidential the details of the settlement. When Mr. Snay discussed a part of the settlement details with his daughter, he violated the “terms and existence” for the confidentiality agreement (Smiley, Miami Herald, 2014). There wasn’t much time between when Dana posted her comment and Gulliver Preparatory School caught wind of it. The post “made its way back to the school’s attorneys, who told the Snays they’d violated the deal” (Smiley, Miami Herald, 2014). This resulted in further legal action.

Patrick Snay reported in court documents that “he and his wife had to say something because [Dana] suffered ‘psychological scars’ from issues during her enrollment at the school and was aware that they were in mediation with Gulliver attorneys” (Smiley, Miami Herald, 2014). Nonetheless, the school’s attorneys argued that Snay’s actions had directly violated the confidentiality agreement. Though Snay “won a ruling to enforce the settlement, Gulliver appealed and won” (Smiley, Miami Herald, 2014). The final ruling on the case came last week when the “Third District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida agreed that Snay had, in fact, violated confidentiality and reversed the Circuit Court Ruling” (Stucker, CNN, 2014). One can only wonder how Dana Snay’s parents feel about the results, but she might not be going on that vacation after all.