DLA Piper successfully represented Lumos Solar LLC, a Boulder, Colorado-based solar module company, in an international arbitration dispute with CEEG (Shanghai) Solar Science & Technology Co. Ltd., a Chinese producer of solar panels.

On July 19, 2016, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that CEEG cannot enforce a $1.6 million arbitration award obtained from a tribunal sitting in China relating to the sale of defective solar modules to Lumos.

The agreements and dealings between CEEG and Lumos, dating back to 2009, had been in English.  However, notice of the arbitration was provided to Lumos in Chinese.  Lumos officials, who were not familiar with the language, did not understand the notice.  As a result, Lumos missed a deadline and was unable to participate in selection of the arbitration panel, The Court determined provision of the notice in Chinese was not reasonably calculated to apprise Lumos of the arbitration proceedings as required by the New York Convention and that Lumos’ inability to participate in selection of the arbitration tribunal caused substantial prejudice to Lumos.

The DLA Piper team representing Lumos was led by the Chair of Texas Litigation group James R. Nelson (Dallas), attorney Meghan Paulk Ingle (Austin) and associate Bradley M. Smyer (Dallas).