Settlement Agreement Set Aside When Plaintiff’s Daughter Posted About it on Facebook

Settlement Agreement Set Aside When Plaintiff’s Daughter Posted About it on Facebook

      Typically, settlement agreements will contain a confidentiality obligation precluding either side from disclosing, except as may be otherwise required by law, the terms of the settlement.  A recent decision in Florida illustrates how important it is that confidentiality be maintained.

      According to a news wire story, Patrick Snay sued his former employer, the Gulliver Preparatory School (Miami) for age discrimination.  A settlement in the amount of $80,000 was agreed to.  That agreement contained a standard confidentiality clause precluding either party from further discussing the dispute or disclosing its terms.  Snay’s daughter, however, then posted on her Facebook account about how her parents had won their lawsuit against the Gulliver Preparatory School and she was using part of the proceeds to go on vacation to Europe.  One posting featured a well known legal term, namely "suck it."  When news of this posting got back to the school and its attorneys, they sought to have the settlement set aside.  The Florida Third District of Appeals tossed the suit on the basis that:

Snay violated the agreement by doing exactly what he had promised not to do, namely disclose the settlement.