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The Arkansas judge presiding over a case against two companies owned by HGTV star Dave Marrs, Jupiter Rentals and Marrs Construction, has granted the plaintiffs, Matthew and Sarah McGrath, extra time to submit final paperwork on what they claim is wrong with the home that Marrs’ teams built for them in 2022, according to court documents filed on June 11, 2024.
The couple requested the delay, according to a court filing reviewed by Heavy, after tornadoes ripped through the area on May 26 — including damaging the Marrs’ property in Bentonville. They claimed that local contractors would be too busy with cleanup to complete a final report “detailing the extent and cost of repair” to the home Marrs’ companies built.
A lawyer for Marrs filed a response, urging Judge Christine Horwart to deny the McGraths’ request, but she opted to move the Discovery deadline from June 24 to July 8. She also delayed the deadline for filing dispositive motions — the option to dismiss the case before it heads to trial — from July 23 to August 6.
Regardless of the delays, the lawsuit is still set to go to a jury trial on September 23. Though Marrs has refrained from publicly commenting on the lawsuit since it was first filed in early 2023, his lawyer’s response to the McGraths’ delay request and a deleted social media post by Marrs’ wife and “Fixer to Fabulous” co-star, Jenny Marrs, have revealed obvious frustrations about the process and the McGraths’ claims.
Lawyer Questions Plaintiffs’ Timeline & Strategies in Suit Against Dave Marrs
Marrs has long denied the McGraths’ breach-of-contract claims and accusations that the home they hired his companies to build in 2022 has serious structural issues and that promised repairs and upgrades were never made.
Since 2004, Marrs and his team of contractors have built approximately 30 homes a year in Northwest Arkansas, according to Marrs Developing’s website. In the McGraths’ lawsuit, filed in February 2023 and reviewed by Heavy, the couple said they purchased one of those newly constructed homes in May 2022 for $559,000, with an an initial down-payment of $15,000.
The McGraths’ lawsuit claims the couple worked directly with Marrs to purchase their new home but that, after a home inspection in July 2022 revealed items that needed fixing, the issues Jupiter agreed to address didn’t happen on time. They also claimed that “several of the attempts to repair have caused more damage to the house” and that they paid over $10,000 for additional upgrades that didn’t materialize.
Home inspections the McGraths have had conducted at the house since then, they allege in their lawsuit, have resulted in finding a litany of other problems. After court-ordered mediation sessions failed, Judge Horwart scheduled a jury trial to decide the outcome, but all the key players involved must undergo advance depositions and submit final evidence this summer.
The McGraths’ request for a delay clearly irked Marrs’ lawyer, Timothy Anderson, who submitted a response to the court on June 10, reviewed by Heavy, that questioned why the couple would still need more time to complete inspections of their home and gather estimates of the repair costs for the alleged issues.
“Plaintiffs and their counsel have been determining the scope and extent of the alleged construction defects in this dispute since at least September 2022,” he wrote, adding that the McGraths’ request was “devoid of any specifics as to when they began their efforts to obtain this ‘final review and report,'” including who’s supposed to complete it and why they waited until the last minute to complete it.
In his response, Anderson also noted that a structural engineering expert, Jim Gore, had already provided a “thorough 20-page report” in September 2022 and that Gore “apparently inspected the property again on May 29, 2024 which, notably, was three days after the tornadoes” that the McGraths blamed for impeding their ability to get an expert’s review of their home.
Jenny Marrs Alludes to Frustration With ‘Not Being Able to Comment’ on Media Reports
Neither the Marrs or McGraths have publicly commented on the ongoing lawsuit, and in a statement to Arkansas news station FOX16 on May 26, an attorney for the McGraths said, “I think the position my clients want to take is to avoid public comment on any of this until it’s over.”
But after Heavy and other outlets reported on latest court filings in late May and early June, Jenny expressed frustration about media coverage and “lies” in an Instagram story, posted on June 4 but deleted within several hours.
Jenny did not specifically call out the lawsuit, but wrote in white text on a black background, “Just a friendly reminder that the media is not trustworthy and just because you read one side of an issue does not mean you know even half the story.”
“It’s soooooooo hard reading lies and not being able to comment on them and correct them,” she continued. “Probably the hardest part of this job we now have. After twenty years working in this industry, with a flawless reputation, it’s not coincidence that once we have cameras following us around, the lies began fairly fast.”
“And it’s best to ignore them BUT it isn’t easy,” Jenny wrote. “I continually have to turn it over to the One who fights on our behalf and sees and knows all truth.”
Two days later, on June 6, Dave and Jenny announced that “Fixer to Fabulous,” which was nominated for a 2024 Daytime Emmy Award, has been officially picked up by HGTV for a sixth season, scheduled to premiere in the fall.
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