Law, Business, and Society 9th Edition by Tony McAdams

Exercise 42

A Peoples Group representative interviewed Hawley in Missouri. Hawley and Peoples completed a contract (signed by Hawley in Missouri and Peoples' president in Florida) for Hawley to recruit students in Missouri to attend a Peoples college in Florida. Hawley was to be paid a commission for the students he recruited. Hawley was to be able to participate in the Peoples health and life insurance plans, and Peoples was to provide the appropriate payroll taxes for Social Security and so forth. Hawley was to maintain certain licenses and insurance coverage, to exclusively represent Peoples' interests, and to complete Peoples' training program. Hawley was never physically present in Florida. Following training, Hawley was shot and killed while attempting to make one of his first calls in Missouri. Hawley's heirs sought Florida workers' compensation. Peoples said they could not be responsible for workers' compensation payments for Hawley's heirs because Peoples and Hawley had not entered a completed, binding contract.
a. Explain Peoples' contract argument.
b. Did the parties achieve a binding contract Explain. See Peoples Group v. Hawley, 804 So. 2d 561 (Fla. Ct. App., 1st Dist. 2002).