Cardinal Fencing & Security has continued to face legal challenges tied to unfinished projects and ignored refund requests from customers.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) — Inside a nearly empty Jefferson County courtroom, a judge ordered the owners of Cardinal Fencing & Security to pay a significant sum.
Itria Ventures secured a default judgment exceeding $70,000. The finance company sued Cardinal Fencing & Security for violating a Receivables Sale Agreement.
Leah Mull, representing Dove Hill Enterprises LLC — another LLC operating under the business — did not attend the hearing. Itria’s attorney, Trevor Earl of Fultz Maddox Dickens PLC, appeared in court.
“[The owner] borrowed money based on the business that he was either currently owed from his customers or would owe in the future,” Earl said. “Lots of businesses do that to kind of keep their cash flow going.”
Failing to appear in court has become a recurring issue involving the company’s owner, Peter Gilbert.
Kent Gootee paid nearly $2,500 to Cardinal Fencing & Security in May 2025. After waiting two months with no crews arriving to complete the work, he requested a refund.
“I never got another response from him or a call back from that point on,” Gootee said. “So then I followed up the small claims court for it.”
Court records show Gilbert failed to appear at hearings on Oct. 30, 2025, and Jan. 14, 2026.
Gootee also received a default judgment.
“You knew that at some point the bubble’s going to burst because, you know, you just felt bad because you fell for his deception,” he said.
As of Tuesday, Gootee said he has not received the refund or the legal fees awarded to him.
WAVE visited the company’s Illinois Street office, but no one answered the locked door. Gilbert previously pledged to improve operations last summer.
“I’m trying, and I’m, you know, we will do better,” Gilbert said on Aug. 7, 2025.
Gootee said he hopes that commitment proves true so others do not face similar struggles trying to recover their money.
“You might be in a bad straight yourself, but you’re really hurting a lot of people, taking their hard-earned money and not giving it back,” Gootee said. “You’re hurting a lot of people.”
WAVE contacted Gilbert for comment regarding the business and Tuesday’s hearing.
He said he was unavailable but explained that Mull missed the court appearance due to illness.
Standing with the state
Kentucky business records list “Cardinal Fencing & Security” as inactive.
Another company linked to Gilbert, Cardinal Fence Wholesale LLC, is also inactive and in bad standing.
Dove Hill Enterprises LLC remains active and in good standing, with its most recent Annual Report filed with the Commonwealth on July 3, 2025.
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