INSIDE EDITION speaks to the attorney of the woman filing a lawsuit against Neiman Marcus after they refused to take back the merchandise purchased by her husband from a store employee who turned out to be the husband's mistress.
Precious gems, expensive designer handbags, fancy clothes, and expensive glass figurines are some of the luxury items at the center of a one-of-a-kind lawsuit, with a wealthy Dallas woman, Pat Walker, going after Neiman Marcus—the famous high-end department store.
The charge? She claims her husband was having an affair with a Neiman Marcus personal shopper, and he had charged all of the items to his wife's Neiman Marcus account.
"Merchandise for sex. I mean, there's a clear connection there," said her attorney, Mark Ticer.
Walker was recovering from a near-fatal car accident and thought her husband, Robert, was just trying to be a loving husband after he began showering her with luxury gifts.
Robert was visiting Neiman Marcus in Dallas almost every day, buying up all those items.
"An excess of $1.4 million," said Ticer.
What Walker didn't know was that her husband was having an affair with her personal shopper, Favi Lo—a woman she had trusted for more than a decade.
"Do you know what integrity means?" asked the interrogator in Lo's deposition.
"No," replied Lo.
The affair lasted for four years.
"Your intimate relationship with Favi began in November of 2009?" asked an interrogator.
"That's correct," answered Robert.
Lo earned a commission on each sale, about $100,000 in just one year.
"Do you have an opinion as to whether Ms. Walker would have continued to do business with you if she knew you were sleeping with her husband?" asked Ticer.
"I don't know," said Lo.
Walker had no troubled answering that question when she gave her own videotaped deposition.
"The account would have been closed. No money spent. Not by Bob. Not by me. And not by anyone else," said Walker.
Once Walker learned about the affair, she contacted Neiman Marcus and asked the store to take everything back. The store, noted for its generous return policy, declined.
"It's about a betrayal of trust. It's about sex for merchandise. It's about putting profits over people. It's about the accountability and responsibility of Neiman Marcus," said Ticer.
Now, it's up to a jury to decide who's in the right.
A Nieman's spokesman says any employee's personal relationship that takes place outside the store is not their concern. The case will go to court next fall.
