Pittsburgh Interior Designer Took Customers For Thousands: PA AG

PITTSBURGH, PA — Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday has filed a lawsuit against a Pittsburgh interior design firm for allegedly failing to provide goods and complete projects that were paid for in advance.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against Black Cherry Design and its owner, Lauren Piasecki, who is facing related criminal charges as well. It seeks $190,000 in restitution for the company's customers.

The lawsuit was filed after complaints to the attorney general's office about Piasecki, whose company specializes in home improvement projects such as bathroom remodels and living room redesigns.

“Consumers paid this company large, upfront sums for home design jobs that were never completed,” Sunday said. “Black Cherry Design not only failed to deliver the products ordered — in some cases, they never even ordered the goods paid for in full by the customer.”

According to the lawsuit, many people who contracted with Black Cherry Design also agreed to designate Black Cherry Design as their purchasing agent which allowed the company to purchase furniture and other design items on behalf of the person. As the lawsuit alleges, the consumer was required to prepay the entire invoiced amount before the items would be purchased.

The lawsuit further alleges that many of the specific home furnishings and other related goods that were invoiced to and prepaid by the consumers were not delivered and, in some instances, weren’t even ordered.

The lawsuit asks that a judge declare Black Cherry Design and Piasecki in violation of the Consumer Protection Law; require that they pay restitution to any impacted consumers; and prevent Black Cherry Design and Piasecki from offering prepayments/future sales for any goods.

The lawsuit is in addition to Piasecki, 44, of Morningside, already has been charged with multiple counts of theft, home improvement fraud, receiving stolen property and deceptive business practices. She is accused in at least eight other alleged victims out of nearly $500,000.

The Black Cherry Facebook page said the company no longer is accepting new customers. Its website has been taken down.

Sunday's office said that anyone who thinks they might have been a victim of Black Cherry Designs or Piasecki file a complaint online or contact the Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1-800-441-2555.