Surely you’re no longer bound by the terms after you give the money back. There’s no more consideration, so no more contract.
Knowing that, he should have either refused the offer or had a heart-to-heart with his daughter.
Yes, you would hope that spelling out to her that if ANY WORD of this gets out then no $80k and no whooping it up in Paris would get through to her. But then this is a teenager we’re talking about.
You’d have to read the exact words of the agreement, but I’ll bet he was simply forbidden from disclosing the terms of the settlement. If so, then he would certainly be allowed to say “I’m sorry honey, I’m not allowed to disclose the terms of the settlement.” If he was smart he would also have told her not to say anything to anyone that even hinted that she might have been told the terms of the settlement.
In all fairness, that daughter has probably cost them 10 times that $80,000 already with plenty more to come. When it comes to kids, 80K is a drop in the bucket. It stings coming all at once though.
From thelurkinghorror’s link:
He wasn’t allowed to even acknowledge the existence of the agreement, so it didn’t matter if the daughter was told the amount.
Also, it looks to me like the agreement is still in force, it’s just that “the Plaintiffs portion of the settlement Payments” won’t have to be paid.
How is that even enforceable, then? The daughter is going to know that they suddenly have more money, and that legal action has been withdrawn. There’s no way for the plaintiff not to indirectly acknowledge the agreement with someone living under his own roof and supported by his money.
It sounds to me like this thing was set up so that they would fail. There’s just no way this sort of thing should be limited to one’s spouse instead of household. You can expect the daughter not to tell, but not for her not to know.
If I had been the girl, I would have pleaded with the judge to send me to jail. At least I would be spared the ass-whuppin’ waiting for me at home.
Dad: The matter is over, and I cannot discuss it. YOU cannot discuss it! You are not to say anything to your friends; you are to post nothing on Facebook. No Tweets, nothing! If anyone asks you anything about it you say ‘The matter is over and I cannot discuss it.’ Capiche?
First of all, how is she going to know her parents have more money? Does she have access to their financial records? Her dad is working at another headmaster job; it’s not like they were destitute and about ready to lose their house until a sudden windfall came into their lives and made itself really fucking obvious.
Second, perhaps he could have discussed his concerns with his attorney beforehand and had “or offspring” written in. Alternately he could have claimed that his lawyer insists that he can’t talk about the case anymore, to anyone, ever ‘and that’s all behind us now, dear’ etc. etc.
No. With confidentiality agreements, you are obligated to make any party you share information aware of the confidentiality and bind them to the same agreement. If you do not feel they are able to keep the secret, you don’t tell them.
However, this agreement would not have been binding on the daughter, so had she just guessed, it would not have been a problem.
No, it should not have cost him.
I wouldn’t have thought about my kid blabbing.
This reminds me of when I was about 6 or 7 and my mother decided to switch dentists because she didn’t like him, but to finish out the round he was working on. There were five of us kids with lots of cavities, so there was a lot of work. Being six, then I go in and tell him I know a secret. He calls my mother and they didn’t do the final round. My mother was really pissed at me, but looking back, you simply don’t tell six-year-olds secrets.
I am surprised that [del]if he told his daughter, he didn’t threaten her for 6:30 bedtimes until she was 35 if she told anyone.[/del] he told her. Kids are going to talk.
In general, are you even allowed to say “the matter is over”? Or is that giving out information?
Let’s reverse it, say they cut the deal, and the institution told it’s accountant to cut the check, but the accountant said to themselves ‘I never liked that bitch’, and diverts the money to an untraceable charity. Suppose, further, that the institution cannot come up with another 80k, should the father still have to keep his mouth shut, still protect the institution from embarrassment?
In my experience, that merely leads to the gossip being prefaced with “Don’t tell anyone, but…” And when the leak is discovered, the explanation is “I only told <blank> and I told them not to say anything! How’s this my fault?” And for some reason, tech-savvy younger folks can’t grasp how public everything on the internet is, along with how untrustworthy their contemporaries are - no matter how often it’s demonstrated.
Ironically, I’m now dying of curiosity as to how the daughter and family is handling this, so NOW I want someone to spill. 
No, per the agreement he voluntarily signed, he wasn’t allowed to tell *anyone *other than his spouse about the outcome of the case. Period. It didn’t say, “And if you DO tell anyone else, you have to get them to pinky swear that they won’t tell anyone else.”
The second he divulged the outcome to his daughter, he was in violation of the agreement. Had she kept her mouth shut, the school would have never known he violated the agreement. But she didn’t, he’s in clear violation of the terms he agreed to, and now he has to forfeit the cash he was given in exchange for his silence.
I had no access to my parents’ financial records, but it was perfectly obvious to me whenever money came in. Mom’s one of those people who suffer from a certain allergy where holding money in their wallet makes their hands itch, know anyone like that?
Ranger Jeff’s Rules for Secret Keeping:
A. Don’t tell anyone the secret you’re keeping.
2 - Don’t tell anyone you’re keeping a secret.
In the service, you can get around 2 by stating “I’m sorry, Sir, that’s classified”. “Sorry, Sir, I can’t talk about that”, or “Sorry, you don’t have a ‘Need To Know’” and generally people will drop the topic. As for Dad in this case, all he should have told daughter is “The suit is over. We came to an agreement.” and nothing more.
Actually, based on the wording that appeared in thelurkinghorror’s link, even saying “We came to an agreement” would violate the agreement. He was not allow to even acknowledge the existence of the agreement, directly or indirectly, let alone it’s terms. His lawyer was a pure grade idiot to allow this wording into the settlement let alone allow his client to sign it.
Seems perfectly fair and legal to me, the confidentiality agreement is as much a part of the settlement as the 80k.