The debate over waterboarding is going from Congress to Provo's 4th District Court after a Utah County man alleged that his former employer used the controversial interrogation technique on him as part of a motivational exercise.

In a lawsuit filed in January, former Prosper Inc. employee Chad Hudgens accused his former boss, Joshua Christopherson, of waterboarding him in May 2007 while instructing other employees to hold him down. Prosper does not dispute that the incident took place, but said it was voluntary and that Hudgens was fully aware of what the exercise would entail when he volunteered for it.

The lawsuit also alleges that Christopherson would remove his team's chairs if it went a day with no sales and said he planned to reinstate a discontinued practice of drawing mustaches on employees' faces with permanent marker if they made negative comments in the office.

Hudgens, 26, of Provo, said Christopherson asked for a volunteer for a motivational exercise in May 2007, but did not say what the exercise would be. Christopherson led Hudgens and the eight other members of the sales team to a hill outside the building and told Hudgens to lie on his back with his head facing down, Hudgens said.

Hudgens said Christopherson told the other employees to hold him down and not let him up, no matter how hard he struggled, then poured nearly the entire contents of a one-gallon jug of water onto his mouth and nose. Hudgens said he felt like he was drowning and struggled to free himself.

"I'm trying to squirm, get out of this, no one's letting go," Hudgens said. "What [Christopherson] said after that was, 'Now guys, you see how hard Chad was struggling for a breath of air, how hard he was trying to breathe? That's how hard I want you to go get back on the phones and make some sales.' "

George Brunt, a member of Prosper's legal team, said Hudgens volunteered with full knowledge of what would be done and that the activity was not company-sanctioned. Brunt also objected to describing the incident as waterboarding.

"Waterboarding implies some form of torture, and this was a completely voluntary activity," Brunt said. "It was explained to him."

Waterboarding is a controversial interrogation technique in which a subject is placed on his back with his head tilted down while water is poured over his mouth and nose to induce a sensation of drowning. Its use by the United States against terrorism suspects has sparked international outrage and has been the subject of heated debate in Congress. Some governments consider waterboarding to be torture.

Whether the incident was voluntary is not the only point of disagreement between Hudgens and his former employers. Hudgens said he told Prosper's human resources department about the incident later that day and that nothing was done about it. Brunt said Hudgens went weeks without complaining about it to the company.

According to Brunt, Prosper suspended Christopherson for two weeks and conducted an investigation of the incident. He said the eight other employees who were there told investigators that Hudgens knew he was volunteering to have water poured over his face in such a manner.

Hudgens said he continued to work at Prosper for about a month after the incident, but decided to quit after Christopherson said he would begin drawing mustaches on the faces of employees who made negative comments.

Hudgens also said he is still in counseling because of the psychological effects of the incident.

"I had been thinking about this thing that had happened to me for a few weeks. I didn't know how to deal with it," Hudgens said. "I started to get these feelings of this coming back."

Brunt said he had no knowledge of chairs being removed from employees' desks, and said Christopherson did not draw a mustache on Hudgens's face.

"If that did happen, it was just voluntary activities in the past. There were some rumors that something like that had been done in the past, but nothing like that was done to Chad," Brunt said.

The lawsuit names both Prosper and Christopherson as defendants, alleging assault and battery, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Sean Egan, Hudgens's attorney, said they are seeking more than $10,000 in damages.

"We don't have a specific number. It's our view that Chad has been wronged by the company, and we are content to let a jury decide what the damage is and what Prosper should pay and Christopherson should pay for an act that is, by any standard and by any measure, outrageous," Egan said.

Hudgens said he contacted Egan after leaving Prosper at the urging his brother. He said he is not sure why he didn't report the incident to police.

"I didn't know what to do. Obviously, I'd never been in this type of situation before," he said. "The thought didn't cross my mind to do it at the time."

Prosper, which is located in Provo, describes itself as an educational and coaching business that assists people who are looking for ways to get out of debt or increase their income.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.