Stuart Starry

General and Educational Background:

He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on January 18, 1961. During his youth Mr. Starry worked with his father on numerous construction projects. This led him to be curious about how to make things and solve problems. He also learned to ski at the many small ski areas that populated Southern Idaho, where he was raised.  He graduated from Twin Fall High School, in Twin Falls, Idaho as its Student Body President in 1979.  He moved to Los Angeles, California where he graduated in 1983, cum laude, from the University of Southern California, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. He was also inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honors fraternity.  He received his Juris Doctor in 1986 from Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee.  He received a certificate in Business Valuation, from Rice University’s Jesse Jones Graduate School of Management in 1998.  Mr. Starry is a Mediator and received his certification of training from the University of New Mexico, in 2010.  Mr. Starry currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico and his practice is focused on legal research and writing. 

Work Experience:

            Admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1986, he joined the aviation section of Beirne, Maynard & Parsons in Houston, Texas, where he devoted a substantial portion of his practice to defending claims brought against commercial airlines.  He has also represented several aircraft and aircraft component manufacturers in aviation product liability cases.  Mr. Starry represented American Airlines in the preemption cases of O'Carroll v. American Airlines, 863 F.2d 11 (5th Cir. 1989) cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1106 (1989) and Baugh v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 915 F.2d 693 (5^th Cir. 1990).  While at Beirne, Maynard & Parsons, Mr. Starry also represented certain large corporations in toxic tort cases, mass actions, class actions and commercial fraud cases.  He also defended automobile accident and workplace injury cases for a number of insurance companies.  

            In 1991, Mr. Starry joined the Houston firm of Fleming, Hovenkamp & Grayson and until 1997 devoted part of his time to plaintiff's aviation litigation and appeals for that firm.  Mr. Starry argued the landmark case Hodges v. Delta Airlines, 44 F. 3^rd 334 (5^th Cir. 1995) (en banc) on behalf of the plaintiff, which overruled his previous victory in Baugh v.Trans World Airlines.  While at the Fleming Firm, Mr. Starry also represented thousands of investors in mass action and class action securities fraud cases.  He successfully argued several complex class action related motions in the polybutylene plumbing litigation.  He handled a busy docket which included, automobile accidents, workplace injuries, industrial accidents, toxic torts, pharmaceutical “bad drug” cases, and a host of other civil matters. 

            Mr. Starry established his own practice in September of 1997.  He entertained cases and appeals, in a broad spectrum of subjects involving products liability, serious personal injury, commercial disputes, securities fraud, and mass torts.  In 1998 Mr. Starry won another high profile en banc preemption appeal.  See, Charas v. Trans World Airlines, 160 F.3rd 1259 (9^th Cir. 1998) (en banc). 

            With the birth of his daughter in 2002, Mr. Starry soon decided to change careers and lifestyles. He proceeded to wind-down his law practice in 2004 and entered his father’s business of residential construction, doing business as “Contemporary Classic Homes.” He was awarded 2007 Custom Home of the Year (under $400,000.00) and 2007 Custom Home Front Elevation of the Year (under $400,000.00) by the Greater Houston Homebuilder’s Association. 

            In 2007 and 2008, Mr. Starry invented a number of unique devices including “the pole-to-ski coupling arrangement” which forms the technological basis for what are now known as “quickpoles.” With the housing market in crisis, Mr. Starry soon realized that the potential for “quickpoles” was greater than his construction business. By mid-2008 the development and marketing of “quickpole” technology became his sole pursuit. The business was expanded with venture capital in 2009 and “Quickpoles, LLC” was formed. “Quickpoles” were introduced to the market in 2011 to rave reviews and continue to be marketed today. 

With his decreased involvement in Quickpoles, in 2014 Mr. Starry began a free-lance legal writing and litigation support business.  He lives in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area and continues to engage in entrepreneurial ventures.

Writings and Lectures:

Mr. Starry has been a frequent lecturer and writer on federal preemption.  His lectures include appearances at the 1992 American Bar Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California (Federal Preemption in Commercial Aviation), and the 1993 SMU Air Law Symposium in Dallas (Impact of Hodges v. Delta Airlines).  His writings include “Preemption in the Skies,” Trial, March, 1994; “Federal Preemption in Commercial Aviation:  Tort Litigation Under 49 U.S.C. §1305," Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Spring, 1993; “Torts at Twenty Thousand Feet,” The Brief, Fall, 1993; “Asserting and Avoiding the Preemption Defense,” Chapter 52 of Civil Trial Practice:Winning Techniques of Successful Trial Attorneys, 2000.

News Stories:

            Mr. Starry’s appellate victories in aviation law received some degree of notoriety.  See, “Turning Off the No Suing Sign,” Texas Lawyer, March 27, 1995 (cover story); “Ruling Opens Door for PI Suits Against Airlines in State Court: Houston Solo Victorious in 9^th Circuit Appeal,” Texas Lawyer, December 7, 1998; and “Ruling Eases Way for Suits Against Airlines,” Los Angeles Times, December 1, 1998.

            For his unique approach to homebuilding, Mr. Starry has received write-ups in construction publications.  See: “Contemporary Classic Homes Seeks Legacy of Customer Satisfaction,” Builder/Architect, (Greater Houston Edition) Vol. 16, No. 3 (2006); “Bluegrass: A Growing Company with Family Roots,” Builder’s Journal (Greater Houston Edition) (2007).

Affiliations: 

            Mr. Starry has been admitted to practice by the State Bar of Texas in all Texas courts, the United States Supreme Court; the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas.  He has been a member of the American Bar Association (Sections on Litigation, Aviation, and Tort and Insurance Practice), the American Trial Lawyers Association, and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.  He is also a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.