Texas Lawyer Hits Glider Aircraft Company With $600,000 Fee Dispute
East Texas lawyer Joseph Blanks alleged that Stemme AG, a German company that manufactures glider aircraft, owes him nearly $538,500 in attorney fees, plus $72,600 in expenses.
December 31, 2019 at 11:29 AM
3 minute read
The Stemme S10 is a self-launching sailplane produced by Stemme AG in Strausberg, Germany since the 1980s. The engine is mounted amidships and it features an unusual folding propeller which is stowed inside the aircraft's nose-cone when the engine is not in use. Photo: Wikipedia
An east Texas attorney has sued a German glider aircraft manufacturer for over $600,000 in a fee dispute filed in federal court on Monday.
Joseph C. Blanks P.C. alleged in the lawsuit that Stemme AG breached its contract with the firm when new leadership took over the company and quit paying his legal bills. Solo practitioner Joseph Blanks of Doucette, Texas, works at the firm, according to State Bar of Texas records.
The Dec. 30 original complaint in Joseph C. Blanks v. Stemme AG said in 1999 or 2000, Blanks purchased a glider aircraft from Stemme in Texas. Blanks started doing legal work for the airplane manufacturer in 2003. The CEO at the time entered an attorney-client relationship with Blanks. In 2004, he started marketing Stemme aircraft in Texas and performing other occasional assignments for legal work as late as 2012, when he helped the company handle disputes with maintenance and service colleagues operating in Texas.
A new CEO took over Stemme in 2013 and he extended the attorney-client relationship with Blanks, including entering a new engagement letter regarding the ongoing terms of the relationship and laying out a billing rate of 600 euros per hour, which converts to about $673. That CEO also agreed to reimburse cash advances Blanks made on behalf of the company and to compensate a consulting expert Blanks brought on board.
Stemme honored its contract with Blanks for many years and paid his legal invoices and reimbursed his cash advances, said the complaint.
That cooperation stopped this year.
"Defendant's new managers decline to pay the plaintiff," said the complaint.
The company currently owes Blanks 479,900 euros in attorney fees—that's nearly $538,500—and $58,100 in cash advance reimbursements and $14,500 to compensate the expert consultant.
Blanks' breach-of-contract lawsuit seeks those funds as damages, and also seeks to recover costs and attorney fees.
Blanks didn't immediately return a call or email seeking comment. No one from Stemme AG immediately returned an email seeking comment.
Read the complaint:
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