PANAMA CITY, Florida — from www.newsherald.com – One day before U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak was set to enter a default judgment against him, Joe Francis, the founder of the Girls Gone Wild media empire, asked for leniency in a personally written motion.

Francis is being sued by four local women who claimed they were filmed on Panama City Beach while they were underage. The women are all now adults. The case stalled when the plaintiffs appealed a ruling that would have forced them to testify in open court and about that time, Francis’ attorney Rick Bateman asked to leave the case. Bateman said Francis has not paid him for his services since September 2009 and that he is owed nearly $500,000. Bateman now is suing Francis, too.

However, after Bateman left the case, Francis stopped responding to Smoak’s rulings and Smoak notified him in March that if he did not have a new attorney by Wednesday a summary judgment could be issued against him. Francis filed his response Tuesday.

“I have endeavored to resolve issues with my previous counsel that would permit him to remain as my counsel in this case, but was unsuccessful,” Francis wrote.

He added that he has searched for other attorneys in North Florida and gotten engagement letters from several but his “company cannot comply with due to the immediate financial requirements of the engagement letter.”

“My efforts to obtain new counsel have been hampered by levies upon my companies’ financial accounts by the Internal Revenue Service,” Francis wrote.

“Prospective counsel that have agreed to entertain engagement as counsel in the case require large retainers which could not be facilitated in the time permitted by this Court’s Order of March 12, 2010.”

However, barring any “unforeseen developments” Francis will be able to get a new attorney within 30 days, he said. Smoak responded by granting Francis until June 10 to find a new attorney and reminding Francis that the case will go to trial soon after the appeal is resolved.