WABC-TV news anchor Liz Cho is embroiled in a nasty legal battle over renovation work recently done to her Westchester mansion.
Cathal Maguire, a Yonkers contractor, claimed in legal papers last month that the “Eyewitness News” anchor and her husband, Evan Gottlieb, racked up a $430,875 bill for upgrades made to their home between April and October — and then stiffed him for $100,875 of the work.
But Cho — named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” in 2003 — and her spouse filed a counterclaim in state Supreme Court in White Plains alleging Maguire inflated prices, charged for work never done and did a shoddy job.
Their Feb. 7 countersuit lists 105 examples of alleged “substandard work” they estimate will cost more than $300,000 to fix — including faulty toilets, uneven floors, an “unusable” powder room, and a “misshaped” driveway that is “too is difficult navigate.”
Cho, 41, and Gottlieb, 50, in April forked over $2.2 million for the 9-bedroom, 4-bathroom mansion in an affluent section of Yonkers where property values are oddly boosted by sharing a zip code with the tony, neighboring village of Bronxville.
John Murtagh, Maguire’s lawyer and a former Yonkers councilman, disputed the couple’s claims, saying they never complained about his client’s work until Maguire confronted them about “failing” to pay bills and ultimately filed a mechanic’s lien with the Westchester clerk’s office in December to try recouping the $100,875.
“If [Cho and Gottlieb] truly had such a laundry list of problems with the work, then why did they wait so many months to complain?” Murtagh said. “This is classic example of people trying to get out of paying for work they contracted.”
The couple contends Maguire verbally agreed not to exceed $343,000 in costs without their consent and that he breached the agreement by “fraudulently” inflating fees by “misrepresenting” work performed and materials purchased, according to their countersuit.
Both Cho and Gottlieb referred comment to their Manhattan lawyer, Matthew Parrott, who said his clients didn’t realize the extent of the “damage” until they brought in another contractor to complete the project. He said they “look forward to having their rights vindicated in court.”
Parrott is with the Manhattan law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman.
Murtagh is a lawyer with the Yonkers-based firm Gaines, Gruner, Ponzini & Novick.
Additional reporting by Laurel Babcock.