Dallas real estate CEO Robert “Bob” Lovell was ordered this week to pay $5.7 million in damages and fees after a judge determined he repeatedly forced a former employee to perform sex acts and then retaliated against her when she refused.
The ruling, issued Monday by Dallas County Court at Law Judge Sally Montgomery, is the first to hold an individual Texas business owner or employee personally liable under a law that went into effect in 2021, according to the woman’s attorney, Rogge Dunn.
“This judgment sends a message: Executives and employees who sexually harass employees and then retaliate when those employees stand up for themselves will face significant consequences,” Dunn said in a statement.
Lovell, president and owner of Home Marketing Services Inc., is well known in the Dallas area for his television commercials in which he urges people to “stop making your landlord richer and give us a call.” The ads famously carried the tagline “bless your heart.”
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