Chip Gaines, Fixer Upper star, has been named in a lawsuit filed by two former Magnolia Realty partners for $1 million.
According to the lawsuit, the partners, John Lewis and Richard Clark, said that Magnolia owes its existence to Chip’s relationship with them. It said that the founding members of Magnolia Realty were Chip, Lewis and Clark.
The lawsuit said that after a meeting of a group of secret top-ranking executives at HGTV, Chip Gaines contacted Lewis and Clark about buying out their two-thirds ownership.
Lewis and Clark said that when Chip initiated the buyout discussion, he knew Magnolia Realty was about to receive nationwide attention through Fixer Upper.
The lawsuit said that Chip wrote to Lewis, “I’d be scared to see how this would work if it [Magnolia Realty] was worth something… The only thing I have to have is magnolia when the dust clears.”
Chip Gaines paid $5,000 to buy out Lewis and Clark.
Two days after the buyout, the Gaines announced publicly that their show was picked up by HGTV.
The lawsuit also named Scripps Network and High Noon Productions.
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