Massage therapist sues Deshaun Watson (update 22 women now)

[Pharmcat]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31081473/masseuse-sues-houston-texas-qb-deshaun-watson-calls-baseless

HOUSTON -- A massage therapist in Houston has filed a civil lawsuit against Deshaun Watson, alleging inappropriate conduct in her home in March 2020 by the Houston Texans quarterback.

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday night by Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee and appeared on the Harris County district clerk's website on Wednesday morning, alleges that Watson "committed civil assault" when touching the massage therapist with his penis and that he "intentionally or knowingly caused physical contact with Plaintiff when Watson knew, or should have reasonably known, that Plaintiff would regard such contact as offensive."

Watson responded on Twitter to the lawsuit on Tuesday night, saying that he rejected "a baseless six-figure settlement demand" and that this is "about clearing my name, and I look forward to doing that." At the time of his statement, Watson said he had not seen the lawsuit.

"I have never treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect," Watson said in his statement.

yikes

[righterwriter]

Serendipitous timing by the lawyer to make the allegation public.

This one will quietly go away soon, one way or another. It seems quite shady by the supposed victim to file a civil suit and then make it public when Deshaun's good reputation is important to help make a trade happen.

[goober]

Serendipitous timing by the lawyer to make the allegation public.

This one will quietly go away soon, one way or another. It seems quite shady by the supposed victim to file a civil suit and then make it public when Deshaun's good reputation is important to help make a trade happen.

Apparently the lawyer is a neighbor and close friend of Cal McNair

[righterwriter]

Serendipitous timing by the lawyer to make the allegation public.

This one will quietly go away soon, one way or another. It seems quite shady by the supposed victim to file a civil suit and then make it public when Deshaun's good reputation is important to help make a trade happen.

Apparently the lawyer is a neighbor and close friend of Cal McNair

"Was" a close friend of Bob McNair Can't imagine McNair will be too happy with him now.

This is going to hurt Deshaun's trade value at a time when it seems like the team was ready to trade him. Even if it seems like a BS accusation on the surface, teams likely will want to wait and see what comes of this now that its hit the news.

This lawyer filed a second lawsuit from another woman and says there are several others that have contacted him, as well. Hopefully its BS, but we have no idea if one might actually file a criminal suit or maybe some other things come up. Probably unlikely, but it's definitely something to keep an eye out for before shipping out a boatload of draft picks to acquire a guy.

This is going to have to get resolved before the draft, for sure, which means Watson is probably going to have to settle just so he can get dealt in time. If it's BS, you gotta feel bad for the guy on several levels.

[Mamba Mentality]

Man if these allegations are indeed true, Watson sure did dupe a lot of people into believing he's a person of high character. I always viewed him in the same light as someone like Stephen Curry who has a squeaky clean public image.

[SSUBluesman]

So apparently there are now three filed, with six total according to the lawyer (https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/18/third-lawsuit-is-filed-against-deshaun-watson/). That this is going through a single attorney and not even attempted in criminal court is...interesting.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't want this to be true, but even more so with how big a fan I am (was?) of Watson.

I know Watson wants out, were the Texans willing to bite the bullet and trade him? Sounds conspiratorial but a bunch of sexual assault lawsuits would (likely) kill any trade interest, causing him to remain with Texans. McNair seems like the type of POS that would do such a thing as well.

[GoRapstheoriginal]

So I've been reading the Jack Reacher Novels from Lee Child, my imagination is in overdrive/conspiracy theory here:
What if the Texans are behind this but there's no evidence to back that up? Will they get away with it?

Very interesting indeed & very coincidental the timing on these cases just happen at the time Watson is trying to trade out of Houston, now he will be forced to play. (I'm only half serious).

[Duke4life831]

So I've been reading the Jack Reacher Novels from Lee Child, my imagination is in overdrive/conspiracy theory here:
What if the Texans are behind this but there's no evidence to back that up? Will they get away with it?

Very interesting indeed & very coincidental the timing on these cases just happen at the time Watson is trying to trade out of Houston, now he will be forced to play. (I'm only half serious).

What would be the benefit for the Texans to do this?

Hey our star QB wants out, lets completely destroy his character so he wont have any kind of trade value, a huge chunk of our fanbase will hate him and hate on us if we play him, and the NFL has suspended players for big chunks of games for similar accusations, so there is a good chance Watson misses games.

Seems to be a pretty extreme and dumb way to go about all of this. I dont see any positive from the Texans point of view from all of this.

[RaoulDuke79]

It's time for the Texans to be the Texans and make a truly Texans decision: release him outright.

That way they not only lose a great young franchise QB BUT they also get absolutely no value in return for him!

It's the Texans way. Get it done, Cal. You know it's what your boy Jack "Littlefinger" Easterby wants anyways.

[GoRapstheoriginal]

So I've been reading the Jack Reacher Novels from Lee Child, my imagination is in overdrive/conspiracy theory here:
What if the Texans are behind this but there's no evidence to back that up? Will they get away with it?

Very interesting indeed & very coincidental the timing on these cases just happen at the time Watson is trying to trade out of Houston, now he will be forced to play. (I'm only half serious).

What would be the benefit for the Texans to do this?

Hey our star QB wants out, lets completely destroy his character so he wont have any kind of trade value, a huge chunk of our fanbase will hate him and hate on us if we play him, and the NFL has suspended players for big chunks of games for similar accusations, so there is a good chance Watson misses games.

Seems to be a pretty extreme and dumb way to go about all of this. I dont see any positive from the Texans point of view from all of this.

But my point being that it FORCES him to play out the rest of his contract FOR THE TEXANS and to play well!

Instead of Losing out on him trading & getting half return on the dollar. Let him be a FA.

[azcatz11]

I think it's weird that he has up to 9 different massage therapists and he's flying them in from over the country.

Wouldn't he have 1 on standby that he likes? Why so many?

[goober]

This is very weird and I am not offering any opinions until more details are available.

[Pharmcat]

So apparently there are now three filed, with six total according to the lawyer (https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/18/third-lawsuit-is-filed-against-deshaun-watson/). That this is going through a single attorney and not even attempted in criminal court is...interesting.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't want this to be true, but even more so with how big a fan I am (was?) of Watson.

I know Watson wants out, were the Texans willing to bite the bullet and trade him? Sounds conspiratorial but a bunch of sexual assault lawsuits would (likely) kill any trade interest, causing him to remain with Texans. McNair seems like the type of POS that would do such a thing as well.

Watson has hired rusty hardin, whose probably on johnny cochran level defense attorney. this looks real bad for Watson

[righterwriter]

I think it's weird that he has up to 9 different massage therapists and he's flying them in from over the country.

Wouldn't he have 1 on standby that he likes? Why so many?

Yeah. One or two accusations is very different from nine. With them having similar stories of what happened (independent masseuses being contacted on Instagram then being asked to meet at a random hotel), its hard to imagine they all made it up. And indeed, he has team masseuses he can use or would likely just use one or maybe two personal masseuses if it was for health reasons, but nine indicates that he was seeking out different ones due to a sexual proclivity.

The question is going to be whether these masseuses perhaps advertised a sexual service-- even if in an unstated way with special wording of their ads-- and are now jumping onboard the lawsuit because its being publicized. I think we'll learn a lot once the evidence of their communication comes out.

But yeah, this is very bad for Deshaun career-wise and personally, and very bad for the Texans. No way he gets traded anytime soon as no team will likely want to give up a lot to get him at this point, not knowing what other issues could still be out there.

[Pharmcat]

I think it's weird that he has up to 9 different massage therapists and he's flying them in from over the country.

Wouldn't he have 1 on standby that he likes? Why so many?

Yeah. One or two accusations is very different from nine. With them having similar stories of what happened (independent masseuses being contacted on Instagram then being asked to meet at a random hotel), its hard to imagine they all made it up. And indeed, he has team masseuses he can use or would likely just use one or maybe two personal masseuses if it was for health reasons, but nine indicates that he was seeking out different ones due to a sexual proclivity.

The question is going to be whether these masseuses perhaps advertised a sexual service-- even if in an unstated way with special wording of their ads-- and are now jumping onboard the lawsuit because its being publicized. I think we'll learn a lot once the evidence of their communication comes out.

But yeah, this is very bad for Deshaun career-wise and personally, and very bad for the Texans. No way he gets traded anytime soon as no team will likely want to give up a lot to get him at this point, not knowing what other issues could still be out there.

this looks real bad, "yikes" is all I can say

[Duke4life831]

12 civil suits at the moment and the lawyer says he has spoken to 10 more women who are coming forward.

I think it’s safe to say this isn’t some inside job by the Texans to tank Watson’s value so he stays.

We are passed the “value tanking” period in this. Watson’s career is on the line right now. I highly doubt the Texans would rather end his career, than trade him.

[goober]

12 civil suits at the moment and the lawyer says he has spoken to 10 more women who are coming forward.

I think it’s safe to say this isn’t some inside job by the Texans to tank Watson’s value so he stays.

We are passed the “value tanking” period in an this. Watson’s career is on the line right now. I highly doubt the Texans would rather end his career, then trade him.

This is worse and worse by the minute, maybe the reason he’s had so many massage therapists is because they all are assaulted by him and they refuse to offer future service

[azcatz11]

12 civil suits at the moment and the lawyer says he has spoken to 10 more women who are coming forward.

I think it’s safe to say this isn’t some inside job by the Texans to tank Watson’s value so he stays.

We are passed the “value tanking” period in this. Watson’s career is on the line right now. I highly doubt the Texans would rather end his career, than trade him.

Wow. That's all I can say. This could turn into one of the biggest stories in NFL history

[Duke4life831]

12 civil suits at the moment and the lawyer says he has spoken to 10 more women who are coming forward.

I think it’s safe to say this isn’t some inside job by the Texans to tank Watson’s value so he stays.

We are passed the “value tanking” period in this. Watson’s career is on the line right now. I highly doubt the Texans would rather end his career, than trade him.

Wow. That's all I can say. This could turn into one of the biggest stories in NFL history

If he ends up being found guilty (innocent until proven guilty) it will be horrible, but not as bad as Darren Sharper in my opinion. Now granted Sharper was recently retired and while a star, not a star QB like Watson. He was working on the NFL network. And I believe the number was something like 16-18 when he drugged and raped.

[azcatz11]

12 civil suits at the moment and the lawyer says he has spoken to 10 more women who are coming forward.

I think it’s safe to say this isn’t some inside job by the Texans to tank Watson’s value so he stays.

We are passed the “value tanking” period in this. Watson’s career is on the line right now. I highly doubt the Texans would rather end his career, than trade him.

Wow. That's all I can say. This could turn into one of the biggest stories in NFL history

If he ends up being found guilty (innocent until proven guilty) it will be horrible, but not as bad as Darren Sharper in my opinion. Now granted Sharper was recently retired and while a star, not a star QB like Watson. He was working on the NFL network. And I believe the number was something like 16-18 when he drugged and raped.

I think the Vick story would have been way bigger if it was in the social media age we're in right now. I'd put this ahead of Vick though because it's possible he's preying on women (if proven guilty)

I mean - we're almost up to 20 women. You wonder how many more are out there that haven't come forward. I wonder if he is a sick individual who has preyed upon many, many more.

I know I'm jumping the gun but this is wild