Reference no: EM131724147

Globe Life Insurance Company undertook a new sales program that targets neighborhoods in Los Angeles where drive-by shootings were a nightly occurrence. In two such shootings, children were killed as they sat in their living rooms.

Globe salespeople were instructed to “hit” the houses surrounding those where children were victims. They were also told to contact the parents of those children to sell policies for their other children.

Tom Raskin, an experienced Globe salesman, read of a drive-by shooting at Nancy Leonard’s home, in which Leonard’s five-year-old son was killed. The Los Angeles Times reported that Leonard was a single parent with four other children.

Raskin traveled to Leonard’s home and described the benefits of a Globe policy for her other children. He offered her the $10,000 term life policy for each of the children for a total cost of $21 per month. Leonard was in the process of making funeral arrangements for her son, and Raskin noted, “See how much it costs for a funeral.”

Leonard had been given several tranquilizers the night before by a physician at the hospital’s emergency room. The physician had also given her 15 more tranquilizers to help her through the following week. She had taken one additional tranquilizer an hour before Raskin arrive, using a Coors Lite beer to take the pill.

Leonard signed the contract for the policy. After her son’s funeral, she received the first month’s bill for it and exclaimed, “I didn’t buy any life insurance! Where did this come from?”

In general, why is capacity a required element for a contract to be valid? What is the issue regarding capacity in the fact situation presented? What mistake did this salesman make? How can this insurance company make sure that it sells only to people who have legal capacity to enter into a contract? What should any business do to ensure that other parties in the contract meet the capacity requirement?