Fans of home renovation shows like Windy City Rehab have only needed to pay the tiniest bit of attention for the past year or so to know that design star Alison Victoria has been dealing with some extreme legal woes recently. Season 1 of the HGTV series might have been a massive hit, but the months since its January 2019 debut have been filled with many problems, including several lawsuits against Victoria and her now former business partner, contractor Donovan Eckhardt, who was also a part of the show. Victoria can rest a bit easier now, though, as one of these suits has finally been settled.
While major complaints came along pretty quickly from those who live near some of the homes that Windy City Rehab's Alison Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt worked on for the show, the real legal trouble began in earnest for the duo in the summer of 2019. The loss of building permit privileges for Eckhardt and his company was first in a long list, which soon went on to include several stop work orders and lawsuit filings. Now, according to the Chicago Tribune, Wicker Park couple Samantha Mostaccio and Shane Jones have come to a settlement for the fraud lawsuit they filed against Victoria, Eckhardt, and contractor Ermin Pajazetovic in April of this year.
The couple's attorney filed a notice with the Cook County court recently, which said that the agreement was being sent around to all parties to be signed off on, but the terms of said settlement have not been made public at this time, while one of Victoria's lawyers noted that it's expected for all of the paperwork to be completed soon, possibly as early as next week. Mostaccio and Jones filed suit after work was supposedly finished on their home (which had been featured on the Season 1 Windy City Rehab episode "House of Horrors"), only for them to claim that several things weren't done as planned or promised to them.
The couple said in their original filing that they agreed to pay extra so that Alison Victoria could turn their garage into a workout studio for Mostaccio, but not only did the price she quoted them change radically in just three days (going from $15,000 to about $37,000), the crew also didn't finish by the completion date, likely because it's alleged that they didn't have proper permits and received a stop work order a month after beginning the job.
On top of that, they say the crew caused water damage to the structure because the roof remained open after the stop work order, and this caused the garage door to stop working, along with rusting a gas pipe, and several other issues. Mostaccio and Jones also claimed that someone on the crew painted over the rust (without their permission) in an attempt to hide the damage from the city inspector, noting that the work then failed inspection.
While I'm sure that Alison Victoria is very glad to have been able to come to a settlement with these homeowners, unfortunately, she's still embroiled in a number of other legal troubles, none the least of which is trying to completely break ties with Donovan Eckhardt. Season 2 of Windy City Rehab didn't shy away from the issues that the two were having, with several episodes showing their conflicts, Victoria coming to the realization that leaving the business / financial side of things to him was maybe not the best idea, and her deciding to part ways with Eckhardt and his potentially problematic practices.
There are still at least two more lawsuits pending against Victoria and Eckhardt, but she declared a few months ago that she's determined to not let all of her legal issues stop her from doing what she loves. Hopefully, more of her troubles can be cleared up soon, and we can get a decision from HGTV on whether or not Season 3 of Windy City Rehab will be on the way at some point in the future.
For now, you can still catch Season 1 and Season 2 of Windy City Rehab on HGTV, so be sure to check listings for times. But, if you'd like more to watch in the coming weeks, we've got you covered with our guide to fall TV, and the winter / spring premiere guide!
