Add another name to the long list of designers, consumers and companies caught up in Burke Decor’s ongoing drama. Last month, FedEx filed a lawsuit against the Youngstown, Ohio–based e-commerce retailer, alleging unpaid bills stretching back to early 2023. The total? $1,680,076.

According to the suit, filed in federal court, founder and president Erin Burke signed a new agreement with FedEx in June 2023—though by that point the site had already been racking up considerable debt. In the early months of the year, it was sometimes accruing as much as $80,000 in weekly shipping expenses. By 2024, the dollar amounts decreased significantly: The first bill of the year was for $226. In July of 2024, the charges abruptly stopped.

In a terse lawsuit, FedEx asks the court to reward damages amounting to the full bill, plus 8 percent interest and attorney’s fees. Burke Decor has not yet responded to the complaint.

With this case, the logistics giant enters a legal snarl already playing out across New Jersey, Ohio and California, in which multiple players have been looking to recover money from either Burke Decor or Burke herself.

To briefly recap, the trouble began in 2023, as some Burke Decor customers—including many designers—began placing orders that would never arrive. When they asked for refunds, they were given a runaround in which the company ignored calls and emails, promised transfers that never occurred and in some cases sent voided checks to jilted customers.

Behind the scenes, Burke Decor was struggling with a host of challenges. The end of the pandemic home boom had affected the company, and a shift in both Meta and Google’s algorithms had increased its marketing costs. Critically, toward the end of 2023, its primary lender, Ampla, cut off access to capital; the company would subsequently sue Burke Decor for $6.4 million in May 2024, alleging unpaid bills and “fraudulent misrepresentations” of the company’s finances. (The case was later dropped.)

Former employees of the Burke Decor, who spoke to Business of Home on condition of anonymity during this period, described a shrinking company shifting costs around to stay afloat—including bouncing from one freight company to another in an attempt to keep operations proceeding while debts piled up.

Burke Decor has not filed for bankruptcy, but in the summer of 2024, Burke herself filed Chapter 11, originally listing anywhere between $1 and $10 million in debt under a Subchapter V classification, a kind of protection for small-business debtors. The case, which has rapidly moved its way through California court (Burke maintains a residence in Southern California) is a complicated mix of the personal and professional. Its proceedings have covered everything from Burke’s living expenses to a troubled real estate venture to Burke Decor’s business debt.

As part of the case, Burke proposed a plan in which her mother will front roughly $1.5 million in cash to pay back a piece of what creditors are owed—a sum, her legal team says, that is larger and more expedient than what could be generated by a liquidation fire sale. The proposal has been accepted by the judge, though various creditors voted against it and, in some cases, filed objections.

As part of the trial, it also emerged that Burke Decor had become “the subject of a consumer protection matter before the Ohio Attorney General’s Office” and that a logistics provider, Metropolitan Warehouse & Delivery Corp., was suing both the company and Burke herself in New Jersey. In other words, FedEx is leaping into the middle of a complicated situation.

Burke did not respond to a request for comment. However, the bankruptcy plan includes some clues as to her resolve to carry on. “The Debtor will maintain control over her personal financial affairs and business interests following confirmation of the Plan. She will continue to manage her wholly-owned LLCs,” it reads, going on to say that Burke’s “key responsibilities” would include “provid[ing] oversight and strategic direction for Burke Decor, LLC, operations, ensuring the company's continued growth and profitability.”

Despite waves of consumer complaints and multiple lawsuits against it, Burke Decor has remained online and operational throughout the turmoil. At press time, the site was advertising a sale tied to the turning of the calendar year: “Resolutions. Intentions. Manifestations. New Year, New Goals.”