Five Siblings Sue 'Extreme Makeover...Yeah

The Leomiti/Higgins family...










Scatman Crothers says: "If I was a lawyer I'd throw that suitcase out the window..."


Scatman Crothers's legal advice aside, this case is a mess. Just when I was telling my readers to “give me the good stuff,” I got hoodwinked and crammed with a whole lot o’ bad. You know what I’m talking about, the recent lawsuit involving a family features on Extreme Makeover. When I first saw the news story, I was thinking it was some pissed off sisters whining about their unneeded cheek implants and Beverly Hills face. To be honest, that was a fleeting thought, I knew what was really catching legal fire, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

This lawsuit involves the blended Leomiti and Higgins family. Long story made real short. The Leomiti’s and Higgins’s met in church. The Higgins kids, ranging in age from 14 to 21 unfortunately lost both of their parents in a short time. The Leomiti’s invited the Higgins kids to live with them. If anyone remembers the episode, the living quarters were totally cramped. Enter the Home Edition team. This was the show where Ty was doing some of the “calls/squalls” of some sort. Ty was also hoisted in the air and or tackled with joy. Yeah, that episode…


Of course with all of the tears, nail pounding and the display of the finished product, it’s tough to remember what exactly was done for the Leomiti’s/Higgins families. Then again, maybe not. The team gave all of the Higgins kids cars, computers, a ton of stuff. But even as the show aired, problems were on the horizon. According to the Higgins kids’ lawyers, the Leomiti’s allegedly treated the kids in a bad fashion. And by the time the show aired, all of the Higgins's cleared out of the Leomiti’s home and lived with friends. The Higgins’s are suing the Leomiti’s and ABC. Why? Because "they say" a contract stated that the Higgins’s were to get their own house. The case is still pending...