Three more lawsuits were filed against Deshaun Watson. Now 19 lawsuits allege sexual assault
Three new lawsuits have been filed against Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. There are now 19 lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault.
The new lawsuits were filed Monday in Harris County, Texas, by attorney Tony Buzbee and allege Watson assaulted women while receiving massages during at least six sessions in 2020. The lawsuits do not name his accusers.
In all three lawsuits, Watson is accused of exposing himself to the women and purposefully touching them with his penis. One woman’s suit alleges he ejaculated on her during a November 2020 massage session at her mother’s home.
As with earlier lawsuits, all three of the new lawsuits allege Watson’s behavior “is part of a disturbing pattern.”
One lawsuit alleges Watson contacted the plaintiff through an Instagram message in October 2020. The lawsuit accuses Watson of deleting Instagram messages “as a result of the repeated lawsuits against him,” and alleges he has been “contacting those who formally provided him massages, in an attempt to settle.”
Watson has denied previous allegations against him and his attorney, Rusty Hardin, slammed the newest allegations as false in a statement to CNN on Monday.
“Like a lot of people, Deshaun regularly deletes past Instagram messages,” Hardin said. “That said, he has not deleted any messages since March 15th, the day before the first lawsuit was filed. We categorically deny that he has reached out directly to his accusers in an attempt to settle these cases.”
“Opposing counsel’s continued statements that these cases aren’t about money do not square with the facts in at least two of these cases. It is incredibly irresponsible to continue to make these types of false allegations in this avalanche of anonymous lawsuits, particularly while we are still trying to find out who the accusers are,” Watson’s attorney said.
“We will address these issues, and others raised in these cases, in our formal response to the court in the coming weeks,” Hardin added.
Meanwhile, Houston Texans General Manager Nick Caserio became the first member of the organization to speak publicly on the allegations surrounding the team’s star quarterback during a team podcast on Monday.
“We’re certainly cognizant and aware. We made a statement at the beginning about where the organization stood. I would say it’s a legal situation, it’s a legal process, so we’re certainly respectful of that,” Caserio said on the podcast. “We certainly take them very seriously. The allegations, what’s been discussed, are certainly troubling. And organizationally that’s not something that we can condone.”
“But again, we’ll let the legal process take care of itself and however it’s going to unfold we’ll certainly comply and do what we can to help and facilitate a resolution for everybody,” the general manager added.
