Mediated settlement agreements are governed by contract law. When a material feature of such an agreement is a confidentiality provision and a party breaches that provision, the breaching party can lose its benefits under the settlement agreement. Gulliver Schools, Inc. et al. v. Snay, 137 So.3d 1045 (Fla. 3rd DCA 2014) painfully illustrates this point. For those interested in exploring this subject further, the topic of confidentiality agreements in mediation agreements governed by Florida law is discussed in depth in Act Deux: Confidentiality After the Florida Mediation Confidentiality and Privacy Act, Nova Law Review, Vol. 36, Issue 1, 2011.
In Gulliver Schools, the court found the following confidentiality provision to be central to the parties' mediated settlement agreement:
13. CONFIDENTIALITY … The plaintiff shall not either directly or indirectly, disclose, discuss or communicate to any entity or person, except his attorneys or other professional advisors or spouse any information whatsoever regarding the existence or terms of this Agreement … A breach…will result in disgorgement of the Plaintiffs portion of the Settlement Payments.