PORTLAND, Maine — A lender has sued the Virginia-based parent company of Brunswick aircraft refurbisher Tempus Jets and its co-founder, seeking payment of loans it says are worth more than $26 million.
The lawsuit from creditor Firefly Financial Ltd. paused plans for co-founders Scott Terry and Jack Gulbin to break up various Tempus businesses, at least until March 3, under a temporary injunction. Firefly claims Terry is insolvent and that the breakup of the business would harm its ability to recoup its loans.
The lawsuit comes after a period of financial trouble, which it attributed in its most recent quarterly report to contract delays, including for Tempus Jets. The company announced a deal last April to refurbish a Gulfstream IV business jet for NASA missions to study coral reefs.
Contract delays contributed to falling behind on lease payments on its space at Brunswick Landing, the former naval air base in that town.
The company had amassed a back bill of $115,054 in Brunswick at the end of September, according to its latest quarterly report, but Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority executive director Steve Levesque said the company has started to catch up.
“We often work with companies who go through some challenges like that, and we give them some latitude,” Levesque said. “Most will catch up and be in good standing. It’s part of the business of being a landlord.”
The company still has staff in a 66,000-square-foot space in Hangar 6, which it rents on a month-to-month basis.
Levesque said the company’s headcount has fluctuated at the base, where Tempus Jets began leasing space in late 2013.
In the fall, Tempus reduced its total employee count to 29 from 52 during the summer. In the quarterly report for Tempus Applied Solutions Holdings, it attributed the cuts to delays in contracts it had already won and higher-than-expected startup costs for contracts that have started.
“Management believes that the uncertainties regarding these contracts and their timing cast substantial doubt upon the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, especially in the near term and prior to the passage of the next 12 months,” the company reported in November.
In an email, Terry confirmed the company’s been behind on rent in Brunswick, “but have recently been making strides to meet our obligations, both future and past.”
Terry did not comment on questions regarding the lawsuit or its specific claims, filed Feb. 2 in federal court in Virginia, or the company’s status in Brunswick.
Jack Gulbin, the company’s co-owner, declined to comment by telephone.
The lawsuit is based on Firefly’s claim to a membership interest in a Tempus holding company, Tempus Intermediate Holdings. Terry, through a trust, pledged that interest to Firefly in order to secure the loans. Firefly said the security agreement specifies that Tempus’ holding company would not sell or transfer its assets as long as it still owes on the loans.
Earlier this month, Firefly said it delivered Terry a notice of default on rent under an aircraft lease, two loans and agreements to buy two airplanes Tempus affiliates now lease.
Tempus has not filed a response to the lawsuit but agreed on Feb. 3 to extending the temporary injunction on splitting up the business until March 3.