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Dorit Kemsley has settled a lawsuit brought against her by a closet organizer last month.
After Emma Josephson Carter, who owns It’s a Lifestyle, a company that helps clients reach “their organizational goals” and “reclaim their living and office spaces … to fit exactly what they need,” accused the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 47, of failing to pay a $8,556.15 bill for her services, Dorit submitted a payment.
According to court documents obtained by Radar Online on March 22, Emma confirmed Dorit sent “money via a wire transfer late last night” at a hearing on Friday, noting that she was waiting for the payment to clear.
“[Dorit] hired my services on more than one occasion. I have a signed contract agreeing to my services and terms of payment. She has not paid her invoices totaling the above amount for over 10 months. I’ve reached out to her, her assistant, and her accountant several times. All parties are aware and have acknowledged outstanding payments, but no payment has been made,” Emma wrote in her lawsuit against Dorit. “I charge my clients by the day/hour. [Dorit] was billed for time spent on-site and any materials purchased for her project. I have since added late fees as per our signed contract agreement. I have attached the invoices for reference, including the final invoice with both overdue amounts and late fees.”
Meanwhile, in her own statement, Dorit confirmed to Radar Online that she paid the amount, despite not agreeing with it. As she explained, she previously paid Emma $13k for the “first phase” of her work, but she didn’t feel comfortable moving forward with phase two.
“I paid the hefty sum of 13k for ‘phase one,’ which at the time [I] was even surprised by how much I was charged to simply get to a place where I could then go in and see what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to get rid of. I knew there was nothing more Emma could do without me being there but Emma was insisting there was, so I assumed I would have been pleasantly surprised. I never suspected that the money I paid for the work that had been done would be for naught as all the initial work that was done had been undone in phase 2,” she explained.
“To top that off I was not given any offer to make things right despite her being told immediately that I was very unhappy by what has transpired. She simply apologized and said moving forward there would be more clarity. That did not feel right or just and I had felt tired of being taken advantage of and refused to pay the invoices without some sort of compensation or compromise,” Dorit continued.
According to Dorit, her assistant told Emma she wasn’t pleased with how her closet was left after she was billed $6,500, describing it as “unmanageable” and in worse condition than when they began.
Dorit also reached out to Emma herself to try to work things out. However, in addition to Emma not being willing to compromise, Dorit said she tacked on another $2,000 in late fees to Dorit’s bill. Right away, Dorit argued that the amount was unfair.
“Suggesting all parties are aware and acknowledged is also not true. I have contested the invoices from the beginning and made several attempts to reach a compromise, none of which were successful. It was as simple as pay these invoices whether you are satisfied or not and also pay this insane 2K late fee charge or I will take you to court and make this public,” Dorit stated.
Although Dorit wanted to work things out privately with Emma, she ultimately paid to avoid going to court, and she said she feels taken advantage of.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14 is expected to begin filming in April.
