Court Awards Monetary Sanctions Against SunPower Corporation, Systems

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 18, 2020, the Honorable Richard J. Burdge Jr. ("Judge Burdge") of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Central District, granted the plaintiffs' motion for sanctions filed against defendant SunPower Corporation, Systems ("SunPower").  The Court awarded the plaintiffs monetary sanctions against SunPower in the amount of $21,507.04.

Plaintiffs, one of whom is a veteran, filed an arbitration action against SunPower claiming that SunPower sold Plaintiffs a severely underperforming solar energy system.  SunPower failed to timely pay the arbitration fees; thus, Plaintiffs withdrew their claim from arbitration and filed a state court action against SunPower, entitled Raishbrook, et al. v. SunPower Corporation, Systems, et al., as permitted by California Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.98.

In this action, Schorr Law, APC, counsel for the Raishbrooks, filed a motion for sanctions against SunPower due to its failure to timely pay the arbitration fees as required by the arbitration rules and SunPower's own contract.  California Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.98 states that in a consumer arbitration, if the drafting party is required to pay the arbitration fees and costs and fails to pay those fees within 30 days after the due date, then the drafting party has materially breached the arbitration agreement.  Section 1281.99 further states that the Court must impose a monetary sanction against the drafting party determined to have breached arbitration agreement.

On November 18, 2020, Judge Burdge determined that SunPower materially breached the terms of the arbitration agreement under Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.98 by failing to timely pay the arbitration fees within 30 days after the due date.  Based thereon, Judge Burdge awarded plaintiffs monetary sanctions in the amount of $21,507.04 against SunPower.

Contact: Karen Cruz, [email protected]

SOURCE Schorr Law, A Professional Corporation