As a board-certified attorney in labor and employment law, Holly Williams admits that she and her law firm tend to stay away from filing sexual harassment cases because of the abuse the plaintiffs typically suffer in court.

“I quit taking sexual harassment cases because the first move in those cases is to criticize the plaintiff. We were concerned about that,” Williams said.

But Williams changed her mind when she met Sara L. Roberts, and heard her story of being hired by an oil field inspection company and fired four days later after refusing her supervisor's sexual advances, informing him that she was married and pregnant.

“When the client came in, everybody in the office was offended by the circumstances,” Williams said. “I just thought I couldn't let it go.''

Williams' decision to take the case to trial was the right one because, last week, a federal jury in Midland returned a $1 million verdict in Roberts' favor—$841,625 of it in punitive damages aimed at deterring similar conduct from the company she sued.

According to her complaint, Roberts allegedly was recruited by Brinkerhoff Inspection, which does business under the name SMOB, and its personnel director, Keith Demby, via Facebook for a salesperson position.

During her initial telephone interview, Demby asked Roberts if she was pregnant, telling her “a little birdie told me you are,” the suit claimed. Taken aback because she was only four weeks' pregnant, Roberts told him she had a positive pregnancy test but had had several miscarriages and believed the pregnancy to be high risk, she alleged in the complaint.

Although Roberts had another job offer and voiced concerns about job security in the oil field industry, SMOB President Bront Bird, a former NFL linebacker-turned-entrepreneur, told her she could easily make $7,000 to $10,000 per month with commissions, according to the suit.

Roberts turned down the other job and was hired by SMOB on Sept. 16, 2015. The next day, Roberts rode along with Demby to learn about the services the company provides, and Demby told her she was attractive, and that they were doing to date, the suit alleged.

On Sept. 22, 2015, she declined to drink beer during an office bowling outing, telling Demby she was pregnant. And on Sept. 23, Roberts told the office manager she had a name change because she had just gotten married. Demby overheard the conversation and congratulated her, Robert claimed.

After disclosing her recent marriage and pregnancy, Roberts was terminated the next day, on Sept. 24, 2015, less than a week after her hire date, according to her complaint.

Roberts later sued SMOB, alleging sexual harassment, sex discrimination and pregnancy discrimination. Demby was not named as an individual defendant in the case.

SMOB denied the allegations in a response, noting Roberts was an at-will employee, was subject to a 90-day probationary period, and missed up to two days of work in her first week of working for SMOB and was terminated for poor performance.

Buy ultimately, it was the company's stated reasons for firing Roberts, not some form of attack on Roberts' character, that didn't sit well with the jury during trial, according to Williams.

“One of their issues was they gave multiple reasons for her dismissal,” Williams said. “They said they had issues with their financial situation, and one of the reasons was they didn't have the money to put her in a car in the field. Well, your financial situation doesn't just change in four days.”

“I think everybody knew why they fired her—because she wouldn't sleep with the personnel manager,'' Williams added.

Also, SMOB's lack of documentation of their reasons for firing Roberts didn't help the defense with the jury either, Williams said.

“This was a jury that in many respects you would have considered to be defense-oriented. There were many with managerial experience on the panel, and some said they had been involved in terminating people,” Williams said. “And it didn't make sense they would fire someone and not have documentation within three days.''

On June 6, the jury concluded that Roberts had proven she had been fired because of her rejection of Demby's advances, that she was terminated because of her sex, and that she was also let go because of her pregnancy.

Brad J. Davidson, a Lubbock attorney who defended SMOB at trial, declined to comment on the verdict, noting that a final judgment has not been signed in the case, and that the litigation is still pending.

Demby did not return a call for comment.

Williams said that the $841,625 in punitive damages and a $42,000 award Roberts won for mental anguish will likely be reduced to about $100,000 under damage caps found in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However the $125,000 in back pay award is not subject to the caps, and is more than double the $58,000 settlement offer that Roberts was offered by SMOB three weeks before trial, Williams said.

“She ended up having twins, by the way,” Williams said of Roberts. “Which is pretty cool.''