You would think that after basically two years of trouble with the city of Chicago and numerous lawsuits that Windy City Rehab's Alison Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt would be nearing the end of both their legal partnership and all of the outstanding legal action against them. Unfortunately, the former HGTV co-hosts have now seen yet another lawsuit filed that involves one of the homes they renovated for the hit show as they attempt to dissolve their many joint businesses.
While some of the lawsuits against Donovan Eckhardt and Alison Victoria have been settled now, legal trouble keeps coming their way, even as they try to finally break all of the business ties that bind them. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Windy City Rehab stars are now facing a new suit filed by Ferro Investment Fund LP and Mark Triffler Declaration of Trust, two suburban Chicago lending companies. The lawsuit alleges that Eckhardt and Victoria, through their company 200 E. Delaware LLC, were lent a total of $185,000 in April 2019, and still owe the companies over $170,000 of that loan.
Victoria and Eckhardt's company bought a Gold Coast condo that was renovated on a Season 2 episode of Windy City Rehab which aired in October 2020, and the suit claims that the loans were originally due in April 2020. While the parties involved were able to come to an agreement to extend repayment until October 9 of last year. Another extension to December 31 was negotiated but never finalized, leading to the lawsuit.
Apparently, some of the needed payments have been made, but Alison Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt still owe Ferro at least $56,267, and Triffler at least $117,231 in both principal and interest on the loans. The lawsuit is also asking that the former partners pay attorneys fees, and a court date on the matter has already been set for November 2.
One of Eckhardt's lawyers has said that the contractor "has settled all business" with both companies, and noted that they're "puzzled" about his inclusion in the suit. Meanwhile, an attorney for Victoria noted that this legal action is due to "a project Donovan brought to the table," and claimed that Eckhardt told Victoria and other investors the profit from the renovation "would be hundreds of thousands of dollars," but actually lost everyone money, with those at both lending companies now being upset they weren't able to get all of their money back. Victoria's lawyer also asserted that she lost over $150,000 of her own money on the project.
As noted earlier, Alison Victoria and Donovan Eckhardt are still in the midst of trying to disentangle their business interests from one another. From the outside, it might not seem to be so difficult a proposition to simply stop renovating homes with someone, but as Victoria explained to a friend in a Windy City Rehab Season 2 episode, she and Eckhardt have several companies together.
They appear to have started a company for each property they worked on together, likely as a way to keep loans and other costs / profits for each build separate from others. So, if they renovated 30 homes during their time as partners, that would be 30 companies to dissolve and settle accounts for, and that is clearly no small feat, especially when you add lawsuits over some of those houses to the mix.
There will likely continue to be updates on this and other Windy City Rehab lawsuits coming along as the year continues, but if you still want more of the series, nine new Season 2 episodes are set to air sometime later this year. For more to watch right now, check out our 2021 summer TV schedule.
