Chip Gaines is facing a Fixer Upper lawsuit from former partners over accusations of fraud with a price point of more than a million dollars in requested compensation.
The lawsuit was filed by two of Gaines’s former associates in the Magnolia Realty business and the issue at hand appears to be the way in which they departed from the business that’s gone on to be a big name worth big bucks.
According to WFLA, Gaines’s former partners John Lewis and Richard Clark sold their shares of Magnolia Realty back to Chip for $2,500 in May 2013. Then just a few days later HGTV announced the Fixer Upper series.
Lewis and Clark (wait, really?) suggest Chip was hiding the details on the upcoming series and instead got them out cheap before the value of their brand went through the roof.
As for Chip Gaines, he’s made only slight references to the Fixer Upper lawsuit via Twitter with one message that says he’s had the same contact information for years but these “friends” never tried to reach out and discuss it before taking the legal route:
Fyi: Ive had the same cell # 15 yrs.. same email for 20 yrs. No one called or emailed? 4 years later "friends" reach out via lawsuit.. humm
— Chip Gaines (@chippergaines) April 29, 2017
I wouldn’t worry about the future of Fixer Upper on HGTV as this will probably be settled quietly if it ever truly amounts to anything. Of course there’s always that cosmetics project of Joanna’s as a fall back, right? Just kidding.
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