Teenager’s ‘Suck It’ Facebook Update Cost Her Dad His $80,000 Settlement

The former headmaster of a pricey Florida prep school lost his discrimination case against the school when his daughter decided to brag about the $80,000 deal on Facebook. 

Patrick Snay was the headmaster of Gulliver Preparatory in Miami  for several years when they decided not to renew his contract in 2010. 

Snay, now 69, claimed the $30,000- a-year school was discriminating against him based on his age and that they retaliated against his daughter Dana, then a student at the school.  

Blunder: Dana Snay ruined her dad Patrick Snay’s chances of an $80,000 settlement with the school he used to work at when she bragged about the deal on Facebook

Let go: Patrick Snay (left) worked at Gulliver Preparatory for several years when they decided not to renew his contract in 2010. He claimed they discriminated against him based on his age (he is now 69) and won a settlement

Good deal: Gulliver attorneys initially agreed to pay Snay checks of $10,000 in back wages; $60,000 for his attorneys and an $80,000 settlement

In November 2011, the school agreed to settle with Snay, paying checks of $10,000 in back wages, $60,000 to his attorneys and a $80,000 settlement.

But Snay never got a dime after Dana boasted about the win on Facebook – violating the deal’s confidentiality agreement. 

‘Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver,’ she wrote to her more than 1,200 friends. ‘Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.’

That post was seen by current and former Gulliver students, and eventually made its way back to the school’s attorneys. 

Four days after the deal was signed, Gulliver notified Snay that he wouldn’t be getting any of the settlement. 

Mistake: Snay violated the terms of the agreement, however, when he told his daughter about the deal

Whoops: ‘Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT,’ Dana Snay wrote

While Snay initially won an order to enforce the agreement, Gulliver appealed and won the right not to pay in Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals yesterday. 

‘Snay violated the agreement by doing exactly what he had promised not to do,’ judge Linda Ann Wells said. ‘His daughter then did precisely what the confidentiality agreement was designed to prevent.’ 

As part of the agreement, Snay promised not to tell anyone about the agreement besides his wife. 

In his deposition, Snay said he felt he needed to tell his daughter because she suffered ‘psychological scars’ from her time as a student at Gulliver and knew that he was mediating with the school’s attorneys. 

‘We knew what the restrictions were, yet we needed to tell her something,’ he said. 

Snay is now headmaster at $20,000-a-year Riviera Preparatory School in Coral Gables. His daughter is now studying at Boston College, according to her Facebook. 

Snay can still file a motion for rehearing and appeal to the Florida Supreme Court in the case.

Appeal: Gulliver appealed and won the right now to pay Snay the settlement based on Dana’s Facebook post. Dana pictured above with her mom

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