Joanna Gaines has reportedly been denied a request for a $150,000 fee to attend a court deposition, Page Six reports.
According to court documents, the HGTV star attempted to request her appearance fee of $150k to show up to her deposition, which was a result of a lawsuit between Standard Furniture Manufacturing Company, Inc. and furniture maker LF Products.
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Standard Furniture Manufacturing had agreed to sell “high-end furniture” under the Magnolia Home name, the furniture line Gaines owns with husband Chip Gaines, while LF Products would manufacture the furniture.
A dispute arose over the raw materials used to make the products, with Joanna allegedly discovering that the furniture was being made with a different material than what had been previously agreed upon.
The Blast reported that Joanna and Chip are not specifically named in the suit. Joanna was asked to sit for a deposition twice but argued “that she has no relevant information because the suit turns on whether the shipped furniture conforms to the contract specifications” and “her deposition would be duplicative since she has no unique knowledge relevant to the case.”
When contacted by LF Products, Joanna’s lawyer said that the Fixer Upper star would not search for documents requested unless she was reimbursed for her time, with the lawyer naming a fee of $150,000 per hour, as Joanna has previously been offered that amount for an appearance.
Despite that, Standard claimed in that “[t]he Gaineses were to be and are heavily involved in the design and appearance of the furniture … and providing other specifications for the furniture,” alleging that “after Gaines received a shipment of the furniture, it ‘was immediately apparent to [her] that the product was substandard and unsaleable.’”
In recent documents, a judge ruled that “Gaines has information relevant to this dispute that cannot be gotten elsewhere.”
Photo Credit: Instagram / @joannagaines
