Bill Hutchinson to pay two Women Damages in Split Verdict

Dallas developer and ex-Marrying Millions cast member Bill Hutchinson was ordered to pay $860,000 in damages to two Texan women who sued him for sexual assault. The jury rejected allegations from a third woman.

The jury returned the verdict last Thursday in a Downtown Dallas court room after a two and a half week trial. The women sought $120 million, $40 million apiece in damages, citing counseling, medical care and emotional pain compensation for the alleged assaults. Hutchinson was not criminally charged in any of the incidents.

The trio testified that Hutchinson preyed on them following requests for career advice. Hutchinson claimed to the jury that the encounters were consensual. Both lawyers claimed victory in the case. The plaintiffs’ lawyer told the Dallas Morning News that the verdict had meaning even if the damages were worth far less financially.

A lawyer for the defendant called the six figures Hutchinson was ordered to pay a “nominal” amount in a statement to the outlet, and claimed the defendant would not have to pay because the amount is lower than an earlier settlement from the same lawsuit. The lawyer did not clarify the statement to the publication, and no settlement amount was available in online court records. There is precedent for this through the “one satisfaction rule,” which blocks plaintiffs from being paid twice for the same injury by deducting early settlement amounts from any later verdict.

In 2024, Hutchinson pled guilty to a misdemeanor sexual battery charge involving a 16-year-old-girl at his home in Laguna Beach, California. The conviction, along with a requirement to register as a sex offender, was expunged earlier in 2026 as part of a plea deal, Hutchinson’s attorney Levi McCathern told the outlet.

The pair of women who won jury awards claimed that Hutchinson raped them. The third claimed he groped her. The pair who testified that Hutchinson raped them also admitted they had previous consensual encounters with him, but they sued for encounters in which they did not consent.

Hutchinson is the chairman and CEO of Dunhill Partners, and had a large role in developing Dallas’s Design District. He is no longer involved with any design district property, according to the outlet. Hutchinson is still dating his girlfriend from when he featured on Marrying Millions.

— Hunter Cooke