Chatsworth Estate : $200,000 Job of Decorating Not to Courts’ Taste

When a pair of Las Vegas investors bought an English Tudor estate in Chatsworth in 1979, it came loaded with accessories. There was a sweeping view of the San Fernando Valley, two-story stained glass windows, a riding stable, a tennis court, even a waterfall.

The only thing missing in the 10,000 square-foot mansion was furniture. So the homeowners hired Phyllis Morris, who bills herself as the “decorator of the stars,” to furnish the place for a fee of nearly $200,000.

Morris pronounced the residence gorgeous after she and her associates decorated it with furnishings “as good as anything we’d put in a mansion in Paris or Beverly Hills.”

Not so the owners, Buttons Swerdloff and Marlene Michaels. They testified they considered the job a disaster. Both parties sued each other, and so far Morris has lost her case at every turn.

Court Decisions

The state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles recently upheld a Superior Court judge’s finding that Morris was guilty of fraud and breach of contract.

In his opinion, Judge L. Thaxton Hanson of the Court of Appeal wrote that there was “ample evidence” of defects in beds, chairs, lamps, tables and other furnishings delivered to the mansion. Hanson also noted the testimony of an architect and expert witness for the plaintiffs who had contended that there had been an “inappropriate use, on occasion, of tacks and chicken wire.”

Morris, who says she supplies custom-designed furniture to Hollywood and literary stars as well as to the sets of “Dynasty,” “Dallas” and other television productions, has appealed to the state Supreme Court. She vows to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

“I think it’s one of the worst judgments ever handed down; so does the whole design industry,” she said. A decorator and furniture manufacturer, Morris maintains her office and showroom in the posh designers’ colony dominating the intersection of Robertson and Beverly boulevards.

‘Flair and Allure’

Michaels said Morris’ “flair and allure” in part caused her to be selected to decorate the house. “My partner was into movie stars, and Phyllis dropped a lot of names and invited us to cocktail parties,” she said.

But Michaels said Morris charged too much money, did not deliver the furniture promptly as promised, and, when she did, the pieces were often inferior. Michaels and her partner complained that some furniture arrived chipped and dirty, that an armoire felt like sandpaper, and that the mirrors were so poorly installed they turned black from condensation.

Besides, they said, some of the room arrangements were illogical. Chairs Morris at first placed in one room obscured the magnificent view of the Valley; she then moved them to a spot that blocked the door, they said.

Then there was the matter of an upstairs bedroom that Michaels during the trial referred to as “the padded cell,” upholstered in a rust-colored wool material.

The decorator, whose showroom was recently featured in Architectural Digest, strongly rejected the comparison. “I don’t know what planet they were living on, but everybody has seen upholstered walls,” she huffed.

Morris complained that the “eclectic” decorating job was complicated by her clients’ fickleness and their unreasonable expectations. She said she was unfairly blamed for wobbly furniture because it was placed on uneven brick floors. She was even accused of providing draperies that were one-eighth of an inch too long, a charge she denies.

On-Site Inspection

In the end, Superior Court Judge Charles H. Older moved the trial to the estate to inspect the furniture himself.

“You couldn’t get a full flavor of the problem unless you saw it,” observed Bradley Tabach-Bank, the plaintiffs’ attorney.

Older ordered Morris to refund the money and pay $25,000 in punitive damages and attorney fees. The plaintiffs were required to return all the furniture and wallpaper. The latter was delivered shredded, in a sack, Morris said.

Morris’ attorney has asked the Supreme Court to review the case, alleging that Older’s wife is a decorator and a competitor of the defendant. Morris also contends that some of the furniture was intentionally damaged with caustic materials before the trial.

Morris, who began her career more than 25 years ago selling “poodle” lamps--she wore a pink mink coat and drove a matching Cadillac, she says--asserted that the furniture helped the pair sell the place. The mansion, bought for $800,000, was sold for $1.7 million.

But Michaels said she could have obtained $3 million for the property if the interior, sprinkled with “a lot of super-wild things,” had been attractive. “Once people walked in, they were completely disappointed,” she said.