Jayson Waller Class Action Settlement With Certain Former PHS Customers

Hall et al v. Trivest Partners, L.P. et al, Case No. 4:22-cv-12743-FKB-CI (E.D. Mich.)

Case Information from Class Counsel

The Settlement Administrator’s official Settlement website is located at:

https://www.solarricosettlement.com

That is where you can review case and settlement documents.

This page was created by Settlement Class Counsel to answer common questions about the case and the partial settlement.

Since shortly after Powerhome Solar (“PHS”) filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on October 7, 2022, our law firm has been pursuing a class action against several entities related to Powerhome Solar (“PHS”). The case alleges that the Defendants participated in PHS’s fraudulent scheme to sell solar systems using misrepresentations about the systems’ money-saving capabilities.

The Defendants in the class action are (1) W. Jayson Waller, PHS’s co-founder and former CEO and (2) several entities that operate under the umbrella of “Trivest Partners,” a Miami-based private equity firm that partnered with PHS to drive its growth.

The case against the “Trivest” Defendants is ongoing, but a settlement with Jayson Waller has been reached and preliminarily approved by the Court.

The partial settlement is for $575,000, which we know is nowhere near enough to fully compensate the victims of PHS’s scheme. However, we believe it would be nearly impossible to get more money for the Class from Mr. Waller due to his financial limitations. The settlement money is being paid by an insurer, and the insurance policy would likely not be available to cover a trial judgment against Waller- we believe settlement is the only way to obtain these proceeds.

The details of the settlement are available on the settlement administrator’s website, but the simple version is that individual payments will not be made until the entire lawsuit is resolved. This is to avoid potentially wasting a significant portion of the settlement on multiple rounds of payment, especially where individual payments from the Waller settlement will be small in comparison to Class Members’ substantial losses.

The Settlement Class includes anyone who purchased a PHS System on or after January 1, 2018. To learn more about the Settlement we encourage you to visit the settlement administrator’s website.

If we do not already represent you directly, and you want to ensure that you are able to participate in the case against Trivest (regardless of whether the Court ultimately certifies a the class against Trivest), we encourage you to fill out the form on this page. If you qualify and would like us to represent you, we would be happy to add you to the large group of former PHS customers seeking justice against Trivest.

Frequently Asked Questions

To see if you qualify and to join the litigation against Trivest, we encourage you to fill out the form on this page.

The form will allow us to keep you updated about the progress in the case, and if necessary, to alert you when you need to do anything to pursue your claim.

  • We believe we have obtained as much money as is likely to be available to the Class from Mr. Waller. The Trivest Defendants have much greater resources, and a fair settlement from them would need to include much more money. They have not yet agreed to fund such a settlement, so we will continue to pursue accountability in Court.

  • Trivest is a private equity firm based in the Miami area. In 2018, Trivest made a large investment into PHS to fuel its growth, and became a 25% owner of the company. Trivest helped PHS to expand and grow despite conducting extensive “due diligence” on PHS and being on notice that the claims PHS made to customers simply were not true. While tens of thousands were stuck with costly monthly payments for electricity and solar loans and PHS went bankrupt, Trivest actually made millions of dollars in profit from its investment in PHS.

  • We do not yet know if the claims against Trivest will proceed on a “class” basis (like the Waller claims are). Signing up with us for no out-of-pocket expense will preserve your right to be part of our efforts against Trivest even if the Court does not certify the class against Trivest.

  • You don’t need to do anything further at this time! Watch your inbox for updates.

  • Yes, this case is completely separate from PHS’s bankruptcy. We do not expect individual PHS customers to recover much, if anything, from PHS’s bankruptcy estate. We have focused our efforts on obtaining the maximum compensation for those harmed by PHS’s scheme.