Pseudo military, super scared

A San Francisco event planner has filed suit against a client company, saying the group arranged to have him assaulted while he was in San Diego organizing an event for the California chapter of Young Presidents, a networking group for business chief executives.

According to a Courthouse News Service report, Troy Barber was in town planning a "military day event" for the group when an SUV cut him off in traffic. Armed, masked men jumped from the vehicle, forced the occupants out of Barber's car, and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint.

It was later revealed that Special Operations Training Group, a Coronado-based outfit specializing in military-style training experiences for civilian business leaders, had been hired to "provide a seemingly real experience similar to what might be experienced by a U.S. Navy SEAL in a terrorist/hostage situation," which Barber affirms was indeed the case.

His problem lies in the fact that the defendants, including Rob Roy of Special Operations and Michael Morgan and Scott Cook of Young Presidents, conspired to keep the staged carjacking and hostage-taking a secret, scaring him to the point it inflicted emotional scarring.

In a complaint filed in superior court, Barber seeks punitive damages for "assault, conspiracy to commit assault, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress."