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Alison Victoria: Lawsuit against me is baseless and lawyer should be sanctioned

HGTV star hits back at couple who claimed shoddy workmanship and fraud

Alison Victoria, 1700 W. Wabansia Ave. (Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images, and Google Maps)
Alison Victoria, 1700 W. Wabansia Ave. (Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images, and Google Maps)

Alison Victoria, the star of HGTV home renovation show “Windy City Rehab,” says a lawsuit brought against her and the network by a former client is so bogus that the plaintiff’s lawyer should be sanctioned by the court.

Victoria’s lawyer Daniel Lynch told the Chicago Sun-Times the allegations from homebuyers Shane Jones and Samantha Mostaccio, a couple who bought a $1.33 million Bucktown home featured on the show, are “misleading and baseless” and were only brought to gin up negative media attention and pressure Victoria into settling the suit.

Jones and Mostaccio filed a lawsuit in April claiming that Victoria, former co-star Donovan Eckhardt, and their contractors performed slipshod work and committed fraud. The lawsuit also sought to force HGTV’s parent company to drop “Windy City Rehab,” arguing it is “deceptive” to portray them as experts.

Jones and Mostaccio argued in court filings that they agreed to pay Victoria and her crew to renovate their garage so Mostaccio could use it to run her pilates business, the Sun-Times reported. The suit alleges the garage work wasn’t completed, and worse, it was done without a building permit, forcing the city to shut down the site. It also claims other renovations to the home were done poorly and without permits. Some of the issues were chronicled in the episode titled “House of Horrors.”

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Daniel Lynch, Victoria’s lawyer, told the Sun-Times that her contractor was trying to complete repairs when Jones canceled and barred him from the property. He added that the potential losses from the fitness business can’t be claimed legally.

In a statement to the newspaper, he said the couple’s lawyer Nicole Daniel of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP of Chicago should be sanctioned for filing a lawsuit “so inaccurate, factually inconsistent and deliberately misleading.”
The Jones and Mostaccio suit is one of many surrounding the popular television series, which is due to return for a second season in July.

Eckardt and contractor Ermin Pakazetovic have been trading lawsuits, and another former client sued Victoria and Eckardt in December alleging shoddy work and leaks on a $1.36 million house.

Victoria is also involved in a lawsuit with a notary public whom she claims forged her name on loan documents and other paperwork. [Sun-Times] — James Kleimann

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Real Estate LawsuitsWindy City Rehab