Defunct solar business sued by Missouri attorney general's office

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's office has filed suit against a now-defunct local solar business, whose owner says he was caught off guard by the litigation.

In the April 10 petition, Bailey's office alleges violations of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act against Strafford-based Simple Solar LLC and its owner, Luke Arthur. The lawsuit was filed in Texas County, where Arthur resides, according to online court filings.

The core of the lawsuit involves the alleged failure to reimburse customers for the first 12 months of their solar system installation loan payments.

"These misrepresentations about the first 12 months of loan payments being the responsibility of defendants induced customers to purchase systems where they otherwise would not have. Defendants have had ample opportunity to correct these deficiencies, but consistently have refused to do so," the lawsuit states. "The attorney general’s office now brings this case for the protection of all of defendants’ customers throughout the state of Missouri."

The lawsuit, which includes alleged counts of false promises, misrepresentation and deception, seeks injunctive relief along with restitution – 10% of which would be paid into the Missouri Merchandising Practices Revolving Fund – and civil penalties of $1,000 per violation.

In an interview with Springfield Business Journal this morning, Arthur said he has been in talks with the attorney general's office to work out a payment plan for impacted customers.

"I thought we had figured out a solution, so this kind of caught me by surprise," he said.

Arthur said Simple Solar, which closed in spring 2023, had offered the loan payment option to customers as a sales promotion. He said "the vast majority" of customers who took the offer had been reimbursed and estimated eight to 10 customers were left in flux when the business closed.

"There's solar companies that kind of fly by night ... and then there's good companies that try to do it the right way and stay local," Arthur said, putting his company in the latter camp. "It went badly with rising interest rates. As interest rates continued to increase, it got harder and harder to sell."

Arthur said his goal is to make any customers who may not have been reimbursed whole.

"That's what my goal is," he said. "I'm hopeful I can work it out with the attorney general's office."

Arthur, who previously worked as chief financial officer and chief operations officer for brother Caleb Arthur's Sun Solar LLC, in early 2017 launched Simple Solar, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Luke Arthur’s LinkedIn profile indicates he now works as an outside sales representative for Santa Fe, New Mexico-based BayWa r.e. Solar Systems LLC.