Suppliers sue Romoss as China’s power bank scandal ripples through the chain

Zowee’s court filing lays out claims for overdue receivables and a range of associated costs, including finished-goods expenses, interest, losses from in-transit orders, obsolete materials, rework and labor. It also names four additional defendants as jointly and severally liable for Romoss’s obligations. The supplier said it cannot yet estimate the impact on its profitability while proceedings are under way, underscoring how opaque recovery timelines can become once litigation starts.

The lawsuit stems from a broader safety crisis that hit China’s portable power-bank market over the summer. Romoss recalled hundreds of thousands of units spanning multiple models after defective battery cells triggered fire risks, prompting the aviation regulator to impose emergency restrictions on uncertified power banks. Soon after, Romoss suspended production for six months, furloughed much of its workforce and pulled back from major e-commerce storefronts, leaving upstream vendors with stranded inventory and unpaid balances.

The fallout is reshaping industry practices. Distributors and airlines have tightened checks for the mandatory 3C safety mark, retailers have raised vendor-qualification thresholds, and manufacturers are accelerating second-source audits for battery cells and protection circuitry. For suppliers, the immediate priority is working capital converting stuck orders into cash, renegotiating payment terms and insuring future receivables. For the industry, the episode is a cautionary tale: quality lapses in high-energy-density products can metastasize into legal, financial and reputational risks that outlast the recall cycle.