Tension started to arise between Alison and Donovan from the start of season 2 of the show.
During the beginning of the season, Alison found out from Donovan's social media that his license had been canceled by the city due to infringements during the inspection. Even then, she still stuck with Donovan to continue with the show even when his company could not participate in the project.
But more into the season, Alison later finds out that the company finances had many issues and encounters corrupt dealing of Donovan. He also seems to be taking company money without accounting for it. So without delay, she severed her ties with Donovan. After that, he also left the show.
Due to all the stress she had been having, she suffered from mental health problems.
Alison Victoria And Donovan Eckhardt Slapped With 3 Lawsuits
Alison and Donovan had started to have problems when multiple Chicago residents complained about the quality of their work. The situation began to worsen when James and Anna Morrissey, the couple whose house they remade in season 1 filed a lawsuit against both of them. The lawsuit involved the issue of low-quality work done in their home, a case of fraud and breaking the contract.
Though Alison tried to fix the problems of the Morrissey family, they were filed a second lawsuit by Shane Jones and Samantha Mostaccio for similar claims about sloppy construction. The designer-contractor couple already walking on thin ice were inadvertently knocked by their third lawsuit.
The third lawsuit came from Michael Ward Jr., a friend of Donovan and his family. They accused Alison and Donovan of fraudulent schemes to embezzle funds of $3 million in the project. With this, she completely abandoned her friendship with Donovan. She felt comfortable after letting go of Donovan.
Why Did Alison Victoria Sue Donovan?
Alison held Donovan accountable for all the problems and damages to the house of his shady work. For this reason, she sued Donovan.
Alison said that she had spent almost $700,000 of her own funds on the project due to mishandling of Donovan. People called her for the shoddy construction of houses compensation when she was just designing the house. Later she found that Donovan had been allocating the funds from the project to his personal business.
Though she knew suing Donovan wouldn't get her anything, she was trying to clear her name and stain from her reputation.
Donovan Also Filed Defamation Lawsuit
Donovan filed a lawsuit against Big Table Media and Discovery for $2.2 million in January 2021.
Big Table Media was the show's production company and Discovery was the parent company of HGTV.
Eckhardt sued both companies for the alleged emotional distress and defamation he suffered after the show made it look like in Season 2. He also claims that the series was scripted and edited to make him look like the villain of the show.
Though Cook County Judge Patricia O’Brien Sheahan dismissed his lawsuit stating that any legal disputes must be settled in a California court
Alison was not named in the original suing of January but at the end of March, Donovan's attorney attached a new lawsuit claiming she was also involved in making Donovan look like the bad guy.
