Judge Rabea Sultan Collier ruled in favor of the plaintiff. filed a civil lawsuit For Deshaun Watson Last week, she has 24 hours to amend the petition to include her name if they wish to proceed with the civil suit.
The emergency hearing was held in Harris County (Texas), and the ruling was reached. Rusty Hardin Watson’s lawyer asked the court for counsel to identify the plaintiff and give “sanctions” to make this a fair hearing.
Watson is accused of sexual assault during massages and inappropriate sexual misconduct. This 26th lawsuit was filed under the pseudonym Jane Doe. Tony Buzbee filed all previous lawsuits.
Hardin stated during the hearing that his legal staff redlined one of Buzbee’s cases, saying, “You see in that red line they simply copied Mr. Buzbee’s pleading almost entirely.”
“And that’s the significance of Mr. Buzbee’s case.” [one of the cases] Hardin stated that the court had ordered him to replead the matter and give us his name.
“They would not have known they needed to give us their name. We tried for 72 hours to get the name. Therefore, we’d like to get the name and sanctions to make us do this.
22 women filed lawsuits against Watson in April 2021. amended their petitions Two judges ordered that they include their names to keep their lawsuits going. Watson was the subject of one lawsuit. It was dropped.
Michelle Kornblith was the lawyer representing the plaintiff. She said she would provide her client’s information to the defendant, but that she didn’t want her name to be made public.
Kornblith stated that although we have no problem with letting them know the identity of our plaintiff, we would ask for a confidentiality order and/or protection order. We are concerned about her safety and already receiving hate mail and hate emails since the filing was made. As I mentioned, we don’t mind sharing the identity of the plaintiff as long she’s safe.
Collier did not rule in favor of the possibility for sanctions during the hearing.
Buzbee says that Watson settled 23 lawsuits against himself during the offseason. But, one is still active.
Watson is currently serving an 11-game suspension due to violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Watson was accused of sexual assault on massage therapists as defined by the NFL. The settlement reached by the NFL and NFL Players Association regarding Watson’s suspension was announced on Aug. 18. He was also subject to a mandatory treatment program and was fined $5 Million.
Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesperson, stated Friday that Watson’s suspension of 11 games will remain in effect. However, if further violations are found, he could face additional discipline.
McCarthy stated, “Watson’s status remains unchanged.” “We will continue to monitor the developments in the newly filed litigation. Any conduct warranting further investigation or possible additional Sanctions would be dealt with within the Personal Conduct Policy.”
Two Texas grand juries rejected to file criminal charges against Watson in January. However, Sue L. Robinson (an independent arbiter) was jointly appointed by the league, players’ union and the league to determine that the NFL had met its burden of proving that Watson committed sexual assault. Robinson concluded that Watson’s behavior in her report was both “egregious”, and “predatory.”
Watson was allowed to enter the Browns training center this week, after being barred since Aug. 30, as part of the settlement. Watson can’t train with the team until Nov. 14 and will not be eligible for play until Week 13, when he travels to Houston to face the Texans.