Here's What Happened With That 2023 'Fixer to Fabulous' Lawsuit

When you think of home renovation shows, you might immediately think of California, Florida, or even Waco, Texas. But does Bentonville, Ark., come to mind?

If it doesn't, it should. Dave Marrs and Jenny Marrs, hosts of HGTV's Fixer to Fabulous, have turned the city into a destination, tackling the city's upgrades one home at a time.

Yet it's not all butterflies and rainbows for the Marrs family. They've faced a series of lawsuits throughout the years, and 2024 was a particularly fraught year for them on the legal front. Here's what we know about the outcome of that lawsuit and how the year ended up being even more difficult than they expected.

Dave and Jenny own Jupiter Rental and Marrs Construction, and those were the two companies listed in a 2023 lawsuit that targeted the Marrses for breach of contract and warranty. The Marrses have faced lawsuits in the past, but nothing quite as high-profile as the 2023 case.

In 2023, a Bella Vista, Ark., couple named Matthew and Sarah McGrath claimed that Dave and Jenny failed to perform agreed-upon upgrades to a $559,000 home they bought from them.

According to 5NEWS, the complaint included allegations that the Marrs duo skipped installing missing cabinet hardware, repairing or replacing broken windows, and repairing hardwood floors in the kitchen, among other glaring construction and repair omissions.

The complaint reads in part, "As of Aug. 28, 2022, not a single item on the list of repairs had been performed. Since that time, the defendants by and through Dave Marrs have attempted some of the repairs listed."

However, it alleged, "several of the attempts to repair have caused more damage to the house" (excerpts via 5NEWS).

The Marrses fired back, claiming the McGraths did not let agents or subcontractors onto the property, calling the damages "unavoidable occurrences."

The McGraths and Marrses entered mediation in 2023, which failed. So a trial date was set for late 2024. Yet due to tornadoes that ravaged the community in 2024, they pushed the court date back to January 2025.

It appears that just before they would have gone to court, the McGraths and Marrs families reached a settlement. 5NEWS reports that a court filing read, "Come now plaintiffs, Matthew and Sarah McGrath, and defendants, Marrs Construction, Inc. and Jupiter Rentals, LLC, by and through their respective attorneys, and stipulate that all pending claims which are now or may be asserted by any party have been fully compromised by settlement." The claims were then dismissed with prejudice.

While 2024 was a challenging year for the Marrs family legally, it wasn't without other challenges.

As mentioned, tornadoes tore through the Bentonville area community in May 2024, leaving people scrambling, homeless, or left with homes too damaged to inhabit until they were repaired.

In an interview with TVInsider, Jenny mused over how the tornado outbreak changed plans for the 2024 season for the Marrs family. She explained, "This year, we tried not to have too many giant projects, but we had 12 tornadoes hit our town in one night. It really impacted so many families across our community. With that, a lot of our projects changed. We actually started a remodel and did the walk-through and were about to start when a tornado hit."

She added, "We went from doing a kitchen, living room, and bedroom to completely renovating the entire house and bringing it down to the studs. There was a hole in the roof and a tree through it. That was one of several that were involved with the tornados. The tornadoes coming through really changed the season for us as far as the scale of projects."

Jenny shared that the tornado outbreak was scary for their family, but they were relatively lucky. She continued, "As a community, we stepped up and cared for one another. We were out in the days and weeks that followed, helping families with cleanup whose homes had been destroyed. The storms really affected our entire community. For us, it wasn’t an option. Of course, we will come help and do whatever we can for these families to get them back in their homes."

While Dave and Jenny clearly have some work to do on the legal front, they aren't shy about rolling up their sleeves and helping their community. This may be why fans are so eager to see them return to HGTV year after year.