A recent decision by a Florida appeals court, Gulliver Schools, Inc. v. Snay, stands as a stark reminder of the perils of trying to maintain confidentiality in the age of social media where news can travel faster than the speed of sound and inadvertent dissemination of information that is intended to be “confidential” can be difficult, if not impossible, to prevent.  

Patrick Snay sued his former employer, Gulliver Schools, for age discrimination and retaliation under the Florida Civil Rights Act after his contract as the school’s headmaster was not renewed.  The parties reached a settlement in the amount of $150,000 ($10,000 in back pay, $80,000 for non-wage damages, and $60,000 in attorney’s fees), and agreed that the “existence or terms” of the agreement were to be kept strictly confidential.  The confidentiality provision prohibited Snay from “directly or indirectly” disclosing or discussing the case or the settlement with anyone except “his attorneys or other professional advisors or spouse.”  It contained a clawback or liquidated damages provision allowing for the disgorgement of plaintiff’s portion of the settlement payments in the event of a breach.  

Only four days after the parties had signed the settlement agreement, the school notified Snay that he had materially breached the agreement based on a Facebook posting of Snay’s college-age daughter, who boasted to approximately 1200 Facebook friends (many of whom were either current or past Gulliver students): “Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver.  Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer.  SUCK IT.”    

Mr. Snay testified that he believed his daughter was retaliated against at Gulliver, that she was “very concerned about” the lawsuit, and that after the settlement was reached he and his wife decided to tell their daughter that the case had settled and that they were happy with the result.  They apparently did not tell her that the settlement was confidential or that she should not disclose such information to anyone else.  The trial court found that neither Snay’s comments to his daughter nor his daughter’s Facebook comment constituted a breach.  The appeals court disagreed and reversed, ruling that Mr. Snay “violated the agreement by doing exactly what he had promised not to do,” and “[h]is daughter then did precisely what the confidentiality agreement was designed to prevent, advertising to the Gulliver community that Snay had been successful in his age discrimination and retaliation case against the school.” 

Confidentiality clauses like the one in the Snay/Gulliver settlement agreement are common and should be enforced when they are clear, unambiguous and voluntarily and knowingly agreed to.   From a drafting standpoint, if it was important for Mr. Snay to have disclosed certain information about the settlement to his daughter (as he had claimed at his deposition), then the confidentiality provision could have included “immediate family” as permissible recipients of confidential information and have subjected those family members to the same confidentiality obligations as Mr. and Mrs. Snay. 

 In addition, attorneys should take heed of this opinion in light of their ethical and legal obligations to protect client confidences.  The duty to protect privileged and confidential client information extends to current clients (RPC 1.6), former clients (RPC 1.9), and prospective clients (RPC 1.18).  Zealous representation and confidentiality are at the foundation of the attorney-client relationship, but if an attorney’s spouse, family member, or co-worker, inadvertently or otherwise posts on social media client or case information that is confidential (e.g., “mom just settled big toxic tort case, off to Mexico for much needed family vacation!”), such disclosure could be disastrous.