Madison County Circuit Judge Sarah Smith awarded an Edwardsville homeowner $48,460.24 after granting default judgment against a design company that failed to provide cabinetry work or refund the plaintiff’s deposit.
On Oct. 21, Smith ordered defendants CWC Design LLC, Sheila Plute and Marty Plute to pay plaintiff Kelle Bess after failing to respond to the complaint.
Bess filed a motion for default and judgment on Sept. 2 through attorney Donald Schoemaker of Greensfelder Hemker & Gale PC in Belleville.
Schoemaker wrote that the complaint was filed on June 16, and the defendants were served with the complaint on June 28. However, he wrote that the defendants have failed to appear in the case.
Bess sought $41,922.23 in actual damages, plus attorney’s fees and costs. She also sought $50,000 in exemplary damages, plus fees and costs.
Bess filed her complaint on June 18, alleging she and Jeff Forbes were renovating a home in Edwardsville in 2020 and needed cabinetry for the home. She claims she received a recommendation for a company named CWC Design and was told the company was owned by the Plutes.
Bess claims she left a message for CWC Design on June 11, 2020. Sheila Plute returned her call and requested Bess forward the kitchen cabinet drawings to her personal email account. After doing so, Bess claims Plute called her on June 15, 2020, and said the cabinetry would cost $34,847.45.
Bess then emailed Plute about a quote for another area of the home.
On June 16, 2020, and June 18, 2020, Bess and Forbes met with Plute at two private homes where the defendant displayed CWC Design cabinetry to them.
Then on June 30, 2020, Bess claims she met with Plute at CWC Design’s store in Collinsville to obtain a partial quote of $65,249.64 and a more extensive quote of $84,194.81.
On July 7, 2020, Plute requested a down payment for $17,693.10. A check for the deposit was cashed the following day. Bess asked Plute for an updated bid with the additional cabinetry and was told the defendant would call after returning from out-of-town on July 21, 2020.
Bess eventually got an updated bid on Aug. 3, 2020, but noticed a “significant price jump for additional rooms.” Plute allegedly advised Bess that she would provide a “price break” on the additional work and suggested she put more money down to “‘lock in the pricing since wood is going up and save your spot in line’ for the cabinetry order.”
In response, Bess allegedly provided a second check for $24,229.13, which was cashed the same day.
Bess claims she then inquired about technical drawings for general contractor Ed Fischer. When she was provided with the drawings, they were “insufficient for professional construction standards.”
By Nov. 11, 2020, Fischer allegedly told Bess that he needed the technical drawings for the work to proceed. Bess reached out to Plute, who allegedly failed to respond. On Nov. 20, 2020, Plute allegedly told Bess she was going out of town and would call when they returned. However, she failed to return the plaintiff’s call, the suit states.
On Feb. 2, Bess and Forbes issued a notice of default and demanded their deposit be returned.
The next day, Plute allegedly said they could not return the money and “needed additional time ‘to come up with a plan.’”
On Feb. 25, Plute allegedly told Bess that a payment would be made on the deposit refund by March 4. No payments were made by that date.
Bess claims she called Plute on March 11 to inquire about the deposit when the defendant responded that she was again going out of town and would call when she returned. When she did not hear from Plute, attorneys with Greensfelder Hemker & Gale sent a demand for the return of $41,922.23. The defendants have failed to return the deposits.
Bess alleges the defendants represented that CWC Design was a lawful and valid business capable of professionally designing and constructing appropriate cabinetry. However, the suit states that CWC Design was involuntarily dissolved by the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office on Aug. 10, 2012.
In an affidavit filed Sept. 9, Bess stated that she relied upon the defendants’ representations.
“That one of the reasons I did business with the defendants was that it appeared to be an established substantive business and was a company, as opposed to a single individual,” the affidavit states. “The individual defendants never advised me that CWC Design, LLC was not in good standing with the State of Illinois and in fact directed me to make payment to CWC Design while it was not in good standing.”
Madison County Circuit Court case number 21-L-707