Solar Company’s Failure to Translate English-Language Contracts Breaks State Law, Lawsuit Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed against American Array Solar, Inc. on behalf of all California residents who, within the last four years, entered into an English-language contract with the company for solar panels after first negotiating a deal in a non-English language. (These additional languages, the suit claims, include Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and Tagalog.)

The plaintiff claims that, in January 2016, the company sent a salesman to his residence who suggested that the plaintiff’s energy bill would decrease if he purchased and installed the defendant’s solar panels. This conversation, the suit claims, was conducted solely in Spanish; however, the defendant allegedly then had the plaintiff sign an English-language contract, to which the plaintiff says he protested. The suit claims the defendant failed to provide a Spanish translation of the contract at the time of signing or via mail thereafter. According to the suit, the plaintiff did not notice any energy savings and actually had his electricity costs increase each month after the panels’ installation. The suit claims that the defendant’s failure to provide a translation of the contract violated California state law.