Lawsuits mount for Rock Tops
An attorney who represents a Georgia firm that sells a patented tool that cuts granite, marble and decorative stone also is suing Rock Tops, a Macomb Township maker of countertops that went out of business a week before Christmas.
Rock Tops owners Robert Gasiorowski and Charlie Thiede ordered the granite and marble cutting machinery from GranQuarts and haven’t paid a balance of $323,998, according to a lawsuit filed by Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma and assigned to Macomb County Circuit Judge Peter Maceroni .
“They took the machinery and tools quite clearly with the intent to steal them,” Yatooma alleges. “They have some valuable tools that belong to GranQuarts.”
Rock Tops also is being sued for $890,395 by Dwyer Marble and Stone of Farmington Hills for nonpayment of a bill for granite and marble deliveries.
The Rock Top owners are expected to be in circuit court Jan. 26.
Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said his detectives are trying to determine if there is any criminal intent so that he could charge Gasiorowski and Thiede with fraud. Yatooma said there is no question in his mind that Gasiorowski and Thiede accepted payments for countertop work they knew would never be completed.
Since Rock Tops went out of business on Dec. 19, The Macomb Daily, the sheriff’s office and Macomb Township offices have been flooded with telephone calls from customers complaining they paid deposits of $3,500 to $8,000 to Rock Tops and never had the work done.
Last Saturday, Gasiorowski moved out of his $1.3 million house in St. Clair County’s Clay Township and has relocated to Naples, Fla., officials say. Friends said Thiede still lives in Oxford.
“They stole $5,000 from me,” said Jim Mark of Wixom, a Rock Tops customer. “I gave them $5,000 on Dec. 15 and got nothing in return.”
Cynthia Baker of Hamilton, Ohio, had a similar story. She is looking for an attorney to file a class action lawsuit against Rock Tops.
Jeff Barrett of Sandusky, Mich., said he spoke to Gasiorowski who told him the company had fallen on hard times. He said he lost a $2,500 deposit he made with Rock Tops.
Ken Kellner, owner of Ultimate Marble & Granite in Redford, said he feels sorry for the people who got taken by Rock Tops, which had 15 offices in several Midwest states. He said his firm is available to finish the job for customers who got taken by Rock Tops at a nominal cost.
“People like Rock Tops just give our business a bad name,” Kellner said.
Anyone who feels they were legally wronged by Rock Tops is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (586) 469-5151
