Vivint Solar v. Lundberg

2025 UT App 102
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJuly 3, 2025
DocketCase No. 20230335-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 UT App 102 (Vivint Solar v. Lundberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vivint Solar v. Lundberg, 2025 UT App 102 (Utah Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

2025 UT App 102

THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS

VIVINT SOLAR, INC., Appellant, v. JIM LUNDBERG, Appellee.

Opinion No. 20230335-CA Filed July 3, 2025

Third District Court, Salt Lake Department The Honorable Richard D. McKelvie No. 200907106

Peggy A. Tomsic, Jennifer Fraser Parrish, and Geoffrey K. Biehn, Attorneys for Appellant Alan C. Bradshaw and Mitch M. Longson, Attorneys for Appellee

JUDGE JOHN D. LUTHY authored this Opinion, in which JUDGES DAVID N. MORTENSEN and RYAN D. TENNEY concurred.

LUTHY, Judge:

¶1 Jim Lundberg left Vivint Solar, Inc. (Solar) as its associate general counsel after receiving multiple awards of nonrestricted stock options and restricted stock units from Solar. When he left Solar, Lundberg began working for Vivint Smart Home, Inc. (Smart Home), believing that his nonrestricted stock options and restricted stock units would continue to vest. However, when he asked Solar to deliver the stock underlying those equity awards, Solar informed Lundberg that it had canceled the awards when he left Solar for Smart Home.

¶2 After nearly two years of ensuing litigation of claims and counterclaims related to the equity awards—which claims were Vivint Solar v. Lundberg

subject to forum selection agreements requiring litigation of the claims in Utah and Delaware courts—Solar filed an arbitration demand alleging claims of attorney malpractice against Lundberg and citing a mandatory arbitration provision from Lundberg’s separate employment contract with Solar. Lundberg responded by arguing that Solar’s litigation of the equity award claims for nearly two years acted as a waiver of its contractual right to arbitrate its malpractice claims. The district court agreed and issued an order precluding arbitration of Solar’s malpractice claims.

¶3 Solar now appeals, urging four reasons for reversal of the district court’s order. Because we are unpersuaded by any of Solar’s arguments, we affirm the order.

BACKGROUND

313 Acquisition Acquires Solar and Smart Home and Lundberg Begins Working for Solar

¶4 In 2012, 313 Acquisition, LLC (313 Acquisition) became the majority owner of both Solar and Smart Home. In May 2014, under the terms of a written employment agreement, Solar hired Lundberg as its associate general counsel. The employment agreement included an incentive in the form of a potential grant to Lundberg of a nonqualified stock option 1 to purchase 30,000 shares of Solar stock.

1. “A non-qualified stock option (NSO) is a type of employee stock option that allows an employee to purchase company shares at a set price (also known as the grant price) within a specified period.” James Chen, What Is a Non-Qualified Stock Option (NSO) and How Is It Used?, Investopedia, https://www.investopedia.com/ terms/n/nso.asp [https://perma.cc/G3MM-J2WV].

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The First Equity Award and the 2013 Plan

¶5 In July 2014, Lundberg received the nonqualified option to purchase 30,000 shares of Solar common stock (the First Equity Award). The First Equity Award was governed by Solar’s 2013 Omnibus Incentive Plan and an accompanying nonqualified stock option agreement (collectively, the 2013 Plan). Under the 2013 Plan, as long as Solar met certain performance benchmarks (which it apparently did), the First Equity Award would fully vest in 2019 if at that time Lundberg remained an “individual employed by [Solar] or an Affiliate.” If he ceased to be “employed” by Solar or an “Affiliate” before the First Equity Award vested, Lundberg would forfeit the award. The 2013 Plan defined “Affiliate” to include “any corporation, trade or business [wherein] 50% or more of the combined voting power of such entity’s outstanding securities [was] directly or indirectly controlled by [Solar] or any . . . Parent Corporation.” And “Parent Corporation” was defined to include a corporation that owned “50 percent or more of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock” in another corporation. The 2013 Plan also contained the following forum selection provision: “Any suit, action or proceeding with respect to this Plan . . . shall be brought exclusively in any court of competent jurisdiction in Salt Lake City, Utah.”

The New Employment Agreement

¶6 In September 2014, Lundberg signed a new employment agreement with Solar (the Employment Agreement). Under the Employment Agreement, Solar and Lundberg agreed that “any and all controversies, claims, or disputes . . . arising out of, relating to, or resulting from [Lundberg’s] employment with [Solar] . . . [would] be subject to binding arbitration.” Lundberg and Solar further agreed that the provisions of the Employment Agreement, including the arbitration provision, would “survive the termination of [Lundberg’s] employment with [Solar].”

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The Second and Third Equity Awards and the 2014 Plan

¶7 In April 2015, Lundberg received a second equity award from Solar, this time consisting of 7,632 restricted stock units 2 and a nonrestricted stock option to purchase 7,632 shares of Solar common stock (the Second Equity Award). And in May 2016, Lundberg received a third equity award, namely, 88,706 restricted stock units from Solar (the Third Equity Award). The Second and Third Equity Awards were issued pursuant to Solar’s 2014 Equity Incentive Plan and associated nonqualified stock option and restricted stock unit agreements (collectively, the 2014 Plan). Under the 2014 Plan, the Second Equity Award would fully vest in May 2019 and the Third Equity Award would fully vest in May 2018, as long as Lundberg remained a “Service Provider” as of those dates. “Service Provider” was defined to include an “Employee,” and “Employee” was defined to include “any person . . . employed by [Solar] or any member of the Company Group.” “Company Group,” in turn, was defined to mean “any entity that, from time to time and at the time of any determination, directly or indirectly . . . is under common control with [Solar].”

¶8 The 2014 Plan also contained the following forum selection provision:

For purposes of litigating any dispute that arises under this Plan, a Participant’s acceptance of an

2. “A restricted stock unit [(RSU)] is a type of compensation issued by an employer in the form of company stock. It is a promise of future stock in the company and not technically worth anything immediately. The RSU is converted to actual stock shares once the employee is fully vested through performance or length of time with the company.” What Is a Restricted Stock Unit (RSU) and How Does It Work? (With Example), Indeed, https://www.indeed.com/ career-advice/career-development/rsu [https://perma.cc/3UZ7- ASG5].

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Award is his or her consent to the jurisdiction of the State of Delaware, and [the Participant] agree[s] that any such litigation will be conducted in [the] Delaware Court of Chancery, or the federal courts for the United States for the District of Delaware, and no other courts, regardless of where a Participant’s services are performed.

Lundberg Leaves Solar for Smart Home and Attempts to Exercise His Stock Options

¶9 Around August 2016, Lundberg left Solar and began working for Smart Home as its general counsel. About four years later, in early July 2020, Sunrun Inc. announced that it would be acquiring Solar. That announcement led to an increase in the market price of Solar stock. At the time of the announcement and until October 8, 2020, 313 Acquisition remained the majority owner of both Solar and Smart Home.

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Bluebook (online)
2025 UT App 102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vivint-solar-v-lundberg-utahctapp-2025.