A Houston man sent a bouquet of roses to his girlfriend, but now blames the florist for letting his wife find out.
As reported by legal news writer Mary Flood in the Houston Chronicle on Aug. 11, Leroy Greer filed a federal suit in Houston against 1-800-flowers.com. He is asking the company to pay for his mental anguish and for the increased amount he believes he will have to pay in his divorce case.
Greer is a luxury car sales manager and says that in April he called and ordered long-stemmed red roses and a stuffed animal for his girlfriend. He claims he was promised that the florist would send nothing to his home.
But 1-800-flowers.com sent a discount coupon and a thank-you card to
Greer's house, where it was seen by Greer's wife.
The couple has had a divorce pending in Fort Bend County since 2005.
When Mrs. Greer saw the card, she called the florist and was faxed a copy of the receipt, which contained the name of the woman that Greer was seeing.
She also saw the message on the card that accompanied the flowers: "Just wanted to say that I love you and you mean the world to me! Leroy."
According to the Chronicle, Greer's wife faxed the copy of the receipt to him at work and included her own note: "Be a man! If you got caught red handed then don't still lie."
Greer complains the florist breached the contract made when he called and ordered the flowers and broke its own privacy policy.
Tara N. Long, one of Greer's attorneys, told the Chronicle that her client could now lose more money in the divorce case because his wife written proof of his relationship with another woman.
"We didn't file this frivolously. We tried to talk to
1-800-flowers.com. All indications were they were willing to settle,
then they stopped communicating," said Kennitra M. Foote, Greer's other lawyer.
They asked for $1 million in a demand letter to the florist.
They said the extra divorce costs alone could be more than $300,000.
1-800-flowers.com, a publicly traded company based in Carle Place,
N.Y., responded to an inquiry from the Chronicle about the suit with a written statement from Steven Jarmon, vice president for brand communications and partnership marketing:
"At 1-800-flowers.com we take pride in creating relationships with our
customers by recognizing and thanking them for their business. We take
all matters relating to our customers seriously; however, we are not
responsible for an individual's personal conduct. Beyond this, it is
the company's policy not to comment on pending litigation and legal
matters."
Legal experts say that under contract law Greer has to show his damages were foreseeable and under the deceptive trade practices law would have to show the florist made a promise it knew that it would not keep.