Drzewiecki

This litigation presents a contractual dispute between several closely related corporations, defendants, in the court below, and one Raymond Drzewiecki, also known as Ray Drew, plaintiff in the court below. For convenience, the defendants will be referred to as appellants, and plaintiff will be referred to' as respondent.

The essential facts are undisputed. In December 1958 respondent, a former resident of California, contacted H & R Block, Inc. in answer to an advertisement; the company was engaged in the business of preparing income tax returns for small taxpayers and was seeking “income tax preparers.” As a result of the contact, respondent attended the H & R Block training session in Kansas City; after completing the program, he was employed by the company as an “income tax: preparer” for the 1959 tax season at its office at Mission, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City.

In March 1959, Richard Bloch, a founder and officer of H & R Block, Inc., asked respondent if he wanted to manage a company office yet to be opened; Mr. Bloch told respondent that almost any city was available to him as long as it had a population of over 35,000 people. Thereupon, respondent submitted a…