Case of the Day: CEEG Shanghai Solar Sci. & Tech. Co. v. Lumos LLC, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13192 (10th Cir. July 19, 2016)

Summary:

CEEG is a Chinese solar energy products company, selling products to a U.S. company Lumos. After a dispute, CEEG sent an arbitration notice in Chinese, although the parties had been doing business exclusively in English until that point. The parties agreed to arbitrate before China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), which provided that unless the parties agreed upon the language of the arbitration, the arbitration language will be Chinese. Because the defendant was not aware that the plaintiff sent the notice of arbitration, the defendant missed the opportunity to appoint its arbitrators. The plaintiff prevailed in the arbitration.

The court found that the notice was inadequate and affirmed the district court's order refusing to recognize the award on behalf of the plaintiff.

Takeaway:

It is very rare for a U.S. court to not recognize an arbitration award, but here is one case.