When Thad Spalding’s client paid $110,000 for a used helicopter only to later discover that it wasn’t airworthy, the seller beat them to the courthouse and won a summary judgment ruling that sealed the deal.

So Spalding took the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and recently won a ruling that may make his client whole. Spalding presented evidence that his client rejected the aircraft under Texas contract law after learning the helicopter they bought wasn’t what was advertised.