GALVESTON – A League City auto dealership employee has brought a defamation lawsuit against the business and one of its former superiors, recent Galveston County District Court records show.
Harris County resident Brett Bland sued CT Motors, Inc., doing business as AutoNation Acura Gulf Freeway, and Jeremy Pratt in the Galveston County 212th District Court on May 25. Bland asserts Pratt engaged in a group text and social media campaign wrongfully labeling him as a sex offender.
Court documents say Pratt shared an image of the plaintiff with “a blatantly false and defamatory message stating ‘keep your children safe’ and that ‘[y]ou are receiving this because there may be a risk of sex offender activity in your area,’ with a link to ‘actual sex offender information’” to about ten people earlier this year.
The former supervisor also reportedly warned Bland and other employees “that they could try complaining about him to AutoNation Human Resources, but that others had tried many times before and that Human Resources wouldn’t do anything because Pratt had the director of Human Resources ‘wrapped around his finger.’”
The suit further explains that CT eventually terminated Pratt but “immediately retaliated against” Bland by ordering the plaintiff to sell eight vehicles a month or be fired.
Bland’s punishment was later rescinded though the original petition says the complainant feared “that the retaliatory policy will be reinstated against him after enough time passes to overcome the appearance of retaliation.”
The complainant ultimately accuses Pratt of taunting him through text though the two had not communicated since CT fired the latter.
Pratt was purportedly allowed to loiter on dealership premises during regular working hours.
Consequently, Bland seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is represented by Sean Buckley and J. Mark Brewer of Houston.
Galveston County 212th District Court Case No. 18-CV-0686