Mike Wallace sues Germain over GEICO sponsorship

 Mike Wallace is suing Germain Racing and business associate Doug Barnette over the loss of his final year of the GEICO sponsorship. Wallace had signed a three-year sponsor agreement with GEICO beginning in 2007, when he drove for Phoenix Racing, according to documents that accompanied the lawsuit filed Monday in North Carolina Superior court in Concord, N.C. The three-year deal with Wallace was worth $6 million annually from GEICO directly to Wallace. Wallace then moved the sponsorship to Germain Racing, where he had a two-year deal for the 2008-2009 seasons. For 2008 and 2009 with Germain, Wallace agreed to pay Germain Racing $4.7 million a year to field cars for him and $600,000 (10 percent of the GEICO contract) to Barnette, who runs the Player Management International sports agency and served as the business liaison between GEICO and Wallace. That left Wallace with an annual base salary of $700,000. Wallace alleges that Germain Racing breached its contract by not providing him with a car in 2009, for violating an agreement that all communications with GEICO would be through Wallace and for soliciting GEICO for its Sprint Cup sponsorship of driver Max Papis. Wallace is suing Barnette for failing to work with him in retaining GEICO and moving the GEICO sponsorship to another driver.
UPDATE: Germain Racing officials were surprised that former Nationwide Series driver Mike Wallace filed a lawsuit over losing the GEICO sponsorship and over GEICO sponsoring driver Max Papis in the Sprint Cup Series this year. “Germain Racing is surprised and disappointed that Mike Wallace’s attorney has made these allegations,” Germain Racing said in a statement. “We enjoyed our relationship with Mike and as recently as last week understood that the feelings were mutual. Germain Racing will aggressively and vigorously defend against these allegations.” According to the Germain statement, the second year of the agreement was terminated “only weeks” after the signing of the original agreement with Mike Wallace