Barbara Lucinda Sawyer worked as a paralegal for Melbourne Mills Jr., an attorney at a law firm. Sawyer proposed that Mills and the law firm become engaged in class action lawsuits. Mills agreed to pay Sawyer an unspecified bonus when "the ship comes in." After Sawyer's assistance and persistence, the law firm became involved in pharmaceutical class action litigation. After the law firm received millions of dollars in fees from class action lawsuits, Sawyer and her husband Steve met with Mills to discuss Sawyers's bonus. Mills orally agreed to pay Sawyer $1,065,000 as a bonus to be paid in monthly installments over 107 months. Sawyer secretly tape-recorded the conversation. Mills later refused to sign a written contract conveying the terms of the oral agreement.

After Mills had paid $165,000, he quit making further payments. Sawyer sued Mills to collect the remaining $900,000. Mills defended, arguing that the oral contract exceeded 1 year and was therefore unenforceable because it was not in writing, as required by the Statute of Frauds. The jury ruled in favor of Sawyer.

Mills made a motion to the trial court judge to refuse to enforce the oral contract against him. The trial court held that the Statute of Frauds required the bonus agreement between Sawyer and Mills to be in writing to be enforceable. Because the oral agreement exceeded one year, the court held that it did not meet the requirements of the Statute of Frauds and was therefore unenforceable. The trial court judge stated,

The end result may not seem "fair" to Sawyer. The Statute of Frauds, by its own terms, can be considered "harsh" in that it will bar oral agreements between parties under certain conditions. This is simply the nature of the beast.

The court of appeals and the supreme court of Kentucky affirmed the trial court's decision holding that Sawyer would not receive the remainder of the promised bonus because of the Statute of Frauds. Sawyer v. Mills, 295 S.W.3d 79, 2009 Ky. Lexis 195 (Supreme Court of Kentucky, 2009)

Ethics Questions Should Mills do the "moral" thing and honor his oral agreement with Sawyer? Does the Statute of Frauds sometimes assist the commission of fraud?

Why do you agree with the court decision?