Former Titan/HGTV star caught up in five-year legal dispute with next door neighbor

By JEREMY FINLEY

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — You see all kinds of disasters on home improvement TV shows, from rotten floorboards under carpet to costly, unexpected repairs with plumbing.

But what the former star of Flip or Flop Nashville said he encountered with his next-door neighbor is a mess he’s never encountered before.

“I’ve tried to be a good neighbor. I’ve tried to resolve it, but it seems like it won’t go away,” DeRon Jenkins told News4 Investigates.

Jenkins has been embroiled in a five-year legal dispute with Vince Gioiella.

The two became neighbors when Jenkins tore down the home next to Gioiella to build his dream home.

“When you find out that a TV design star lives next door, that seems like that’s going to be a great thing,” News4 Investigates said.

“Probably no comment on that,” Gioiella said.

The dispute started over property lines but escalated when Gioiella said he came home to find Jenkins’ yard crew parked in his lawn.

While Jenkins told News4 Investigates that no one ever called him to complain about the crew parked in his yard, Gioiella said what happened next shows the former HGTV star has no concern for his neighbor.

Gioiella said he then came home to find scaffolding set up on his property with bricks scattered everywhere.

Gioiella said at first Jenkins didn’t ask permission to do any of it.

“I was extremely confused and extremely frustrated,” Gioiella said.

Gioiella said videos recorded from his front porch of his argument with Jenkins shows how he was treated by Jenkins.

The videos, of which News4 Investigates received only portions of, show Jenkins angrily responding to Gioiella and another man.

“You try to walk around trying to make people think you’re important. You’re not ****ing nobody dude. You’re not nobody. You’re not nobody,” Jenkins said in the clips.

In another clip, Jenkins can be heard angrily responding to the two men.

“Shut the ***k up. I’m the contractor, player, that’s what I do,” Jenkins said in the clips.

News4 Investigates showed the clips to Jenkins.

“I’ve talked to your neighbor and he believes that you think because I’m a former Tennessee Titan and I’ve had a TV show that I can get away with steamrolling the little guy. What would you say to that?” News4 Investigates asked.

“I don’t know in which way he was steamrolled because, again, he’s the only person to receive money,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he did get permission to set up the scaffolding in advance and then agreed to pay Gioiella $3,000 to use his property to finish the work.

When Jenkins wrote the check, he added in the memo line, “blood money.”

“What did you mean by that – blood money?” asked News4 Investigates.

“This is the first time that I’ve actually had to build in Nashville and had a situation where a neighbor trying to siphon money out of me,” Jenkins said.

In one of the clips, you can hear Jenkins referencing his frustrations.

“If someone had siphoned money out of you, you wouldn’t be happy either,” Jenkins said in the clip.

Jenkins said what you don’t see in the edited videos is that Gioiella and the other man were standing on his property at the time.

“You just see an angry man, or you see someone angry, and the reality is, I asked them to get off my property and they antagonized me,” Jenkins said.

Gioiella said his attorney would not allow him to answer questions about the video or the litigation.

Court records show when Gioiella sued Jenkins for causing damage to his driveway, the two worked out an agreement – without any financial agreement – to repair the concrete.

Gioiella said Jenkins has yet to finish the job, and Jenkins’ attorney responded by saying Gioiella won’t allow repair crews to come on his property.

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