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A lawsuit filed in Clark County Circuit Court aims to throw shade on a solar panel company for unlawful door-to-door sales tactics.
Nivo Solar LLC and affiliate lending company Solar Mosaic LLC were named as defendants in a suit that alleges the companies violated a state law geared to protect Arkansans from deceptive solicitors.
Filed on behalf of Felicia Smith, Arkadelphia attorney Todd Turner’s 10-page complaint outlines Nivo Solar’s alleged violations of the Arkansas Home Solicitation Act (HSSA) and Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and says the contract Smith signed should be null and void.
The suit notes that Nivo hired door-to-door salesmen to solicit solar panels. A duo visited Smith in October 2023 and, despite her initial objections, insisted that she needed solar panels for her home to eliminate her electric bills. “Eventually, through [Nivo’s] continued presence and persistence, [Smith] succumbed and said she would buy the panels,” the suit notes. Smith electronically signed various documents
Among the HSSA violations outlined in the complaint are the claims that the salesmen failed to provide documentation of the contract, failed to advise Smith she had a right to cancel the transaction, and didn’t provide cancellation forms required at the time of signing.
Smith had hoped to renege her decision and, once the salesmen left, immediately contacted Mosaic, the financing company, to cancel the transaction. The next evening, however, one of the salesmen returned to her home and persuaded her to electronically re-sign certain documents — but again failed to provide a cancellation form or any document signed by both the consumer and seller, the lawsuit claims.
Nivo would go on to install the solar panels, and Mosaic began withdrawing money from Smith’s bank account. The suit claims that the solar panels haven’t worked as promised, and that Smith has continued to pay full electric bills since the panels were installed.
Despite notifying the companies that she wished to cancel the transaction and demanding the removal of the solar panels from her home, Nivo refused to do so.
Nivo would later find itself in the hot seat, in September 2024, when a state regulatory panel turned up the heat on the company. The Arkansas Residential Contractors Committee found that Nivo had been operating in Arkansas without a proper license, a violation for which Nivo was found guilty and fined $5,000 and ordered to pay civil penalties.
Headquartered in Cypress, Texas, Nivo Solar of Arkansas had been dissolved as a domestic LLC at the time the lawsuit was filed. On Thursday, Feb. 13, the company was granted a “good standing” status under the name Nivo Solar LLC, according to the Arkansas Secretary of State website.
The suit demands court judgment for the contracts to be cancelled and that Smith be awarded judgment for damages, attorney fees and other proper relief.