Orphans sue home makeover show

FIVE orphaned siblings who moved into a new dream home on the American hit television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are suing the ABC network, the company that built the house and the couple who took them in after their parents died.

The children range in age from 15 to 22. They claim that after Extreme Makeover built a new nine-bedroom mansion for them to live in with Phil and Loki Leomiti, the Leomitis engaged in “an orchestrated campaign” to drive them away by insulting them and treating them poorly. Their complaint alleges fraud and breach of contract. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The children ultimately moved out of the Leomitis’ home in Santa Fe Springs, California, south-east of Los Angeles, and are living separately with friends, said Charles Higgins, the eldest sibling.

ABC said in a statement: “It is important to note that the episode was about the rebuilding of the Leomiti family’s existing home to accommodate the inclusion of the five Higgins siblings, whom the Leomitis had invited into their lives following the death of their parents.”

The parents of the Higgins children died 10 weeks apart in spring 2004 - the mother of breast cancer and the father of heart failure.

The siblings’ attorney, Patrick Mesisca, acknowledged the siblings were never promised a house in writing. But the network’s statements and actions could legally be considered a promise, he said. “We were promised a home,” said Charles Higgins. “They broke that promise.”