Patrick Snay, 69, was the headmaster at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami. In 2010, the school didn’t renew his contract. Snay promptly sued the school for age discrimination. Successfully so - he reached a settlement with his former employer for the sum of $80,000. The agreement contained a standard confidentiality clause quite common in cases like this. It forbids both Mr. Snay and the school to talk about the case. So far so good for the Snay family.That is, until Dana Snay posted the following on Facebook: “Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.”
Dana has 1,200 Facebook friends among them current and former Gulliver students who happily reposted. It didn’t take a lot of time for Gulliver Preparatory School’s legal team to learn about Snay’s infringement and appeal the verdict.
The Third District Court of Appeal tossed out the $80,000 settlement. Judge Linda Ann Wells wrote: “Snay violated the agreement by doing exactly what he had promised not to do. His daughter then did precisely what the confidentiality agreement was designed to prevent.”
Snay’s defense? He had to share the settlement with his daughter since she suffered “psychological scars” from her time at the school. She also knew that her parents were in mediation. He tried to explain: “We knew what the restrictions were, yet we needed to tell her something.”
Snay Pater is currently employed as the headmaster of Riviera Preparatory Academy in Coral Gables. He is allowed to file a motion for rehearing and also appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. (Good luck with that)
Snay Filia is a student at Boston College and works part-time at Starbucks as a “barista”. Needless to say, her brag came with a hefty price – no Europe for you Ms. Snay!
Pappa Snay's chances of getting back his hefty settlement back are slim. Oh irony: if Dana Snay would have been discreet, the court would never have discovered that her family had violated Snay's settlement agreement!
Moral of the story: Facebook brags are the 21st century equivalent of “loose lips sink ships”
