'Fixer Upper's Chip Gaines Faces Legal Hurdle
On tonight's episode, Chip finally figures out his design style! 😉 It's a dramatic reveal you [...]
Chip and Joanna Gaines have leveraged their Fixer Upper fame into a massive business and lifestyle endeavor based out of Waco, Texas, but now some of that success could be in jeopardy.
Two of Gaines' former business partners from the Magnolia Realty Company are suing him for fraud, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald.
John L. Lewis and Richard L. Clark ran Magnolia Realty alongside the reality star before he made his television debut. Right before the launch of the show, he bought them out of their part of the company.
The suit, which is going after Gaines, Magnolia Realty, HGTV's parent company, and the production company behind Fixer Upper, seeks more than a million dollars in damages on claims that Gaines did not disclose that the show would be starting. The former partners believe they were run out of the company before being informed that the show would make their brand a household name.
MORE: Joanna and Chip Gaines Take to Instagram With Major News About New Show
Gaines bought them out of the company for $2,500 each just two days before announcing the new show.
His lawyers issued a statement to the newspaper, saying, "We just received a copy of the petition and haven't had a chance to study it in detail. But we are generally aware of the story that Mr. Lewis and Mr. Clark are telling. We are confident that these clams will be found to be meritless, and it is disappointing to see people try to take advantage of the hard work and success of Chip and Joanna Gaines."
The couple has not responded.
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