HOUSTON – Tony Buzbee, the attorney in the latest civil lawsuit filed against Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has reached a confidential settlement with the former Houston Texans quarterback.
The Houston-based accuser, a woman identified only as Jane Doe, had been seeking at least $1 million in damages and alleged that he sexually assaulted her. The financial details of this settlement are undisclosed.
This lawsuit likely makes any NFL investigation under the personal conduct policy a moot matter because the alleged victim would be unlikely to cooperate further with the league after reaching this settlement.
This marks the 24th time a Buzbee client has sued Watson. There is one pending civil lawsuit.
“We have now resolved our client’s claim with Deshaun Watson,” Buzbee said in a statement. “The settlement is confidential.”
Watson is represented by Houston-based attorney Rusty Hardin.
Previously, Buzbee emphasized in a statement that efforts to settle the case had been ongoing and unsuccessful for 10 months with the former Houston Texans Pro Bowl quarterback and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Buzbee is the plaintiff’s attorney representing an unnamed Houston woman who alleged Watson, a former Clemson star, sexually assaulted her in 2020. This marked the first woman to accuse Watson, now playing for the Cleveland Browns following a trade in exchange for three first-round selections, of rape with the other lawsuits, the majority of them already settled, alleging various types of sexual misconduct.
Watson, 28, has not been charged with a crime. He was previously not indicted by two Texas grand juries following criminal investigations in Harris and Brazoria Counties.
“We feel compelled to release this statement based on the innumerable press inquiries we’ve received,” Buzbee wrote in a statement on Instagram at the time of the filing. “We reached out to attorney Rusty Hardin’s office for ten months in an attempt to resolve this case. We knew this case was the most serious and egregious case brought against Watson to date and our client, who is rightly traumatized by these events, wanted to attempt a private resolution. We thought that was the best approach given the media storm that occurred surrounding the legion of other clients. Unfortunately, Watson’s team or maybe his lawyers couldn’t or wouldn’t give this case the attention it was due. Mr. Hardin now has tried to contact us since we filed suit. Unfortunately, we see that now as too little too late. But, we are officers of the court, and we will give Mr. Hardin and his team the respect he has earned and will work with him to progress this case in an efficient manner.
“With regard to whether Deshaun Watson ‘knows who this woman is,’ I hope that’s his defense. He is well aware of what he did. This case is strong and now that we have filed we will pursue it with vigor. We have heard from the NFL. We will respond in due course. Finally, you should know that, although I wasn’t aware of her claims, Mr. Watson was well aware of this victim and her claims immediately after it occurred and Watson was again reminded back when he filed the first lawsuit for the other multiple victims. (I wasn’t part of that.) I can understand, given the number of women that Mr. Watson has interacted with, that he could forget some or many of them. However, given the nature of this alleged conduct in this case, I expect this incident is something he wouldn’t soon forget. We look forward to a trial by jury.”
As the NFL investigates Watson under the league’s official personal-conduct policy after a new civil lawsuit alleging sexual assault was filed in Harris County, Hardin weighed in on the legal matter.
Hardin, the Houston-based attorney who has represented Watson in all of his civil litigation alleging sexual misconduct and in two criminal investigations that went to grand juries with no indictments issued, said that the Browns veteran starter denies the allegations. Watson has been accused of sexual assault by an unnamed Houston woman stemming from a 2020 incident.
“Deshaun strongly denies the allegations in the Jane Doe lawsuit filed Monday,” Hardin said in a statement released to KPRC 2 and other media outlets when the lawsuit was initially filed. “We have asked him not to comment further while this matter works its way through the courts, but are comfortable he will ultimately be vindicated.
“We will be ready to defend this case in court at the appropriate time, but don’t intend to conduct our defense in the media. We would ask that people be patient while the legal process runs its course. In the meantime, Deshaun is going to focus his energy and concentration on football.”
Watson was traded to Cleveland in 2022 in exchange for three first-round draft picks.
While the league investigation is taking place, and because Watson has not been charged with a crime, he remains eligible to play and won’t be placed on the NFL’s commissioner-exempt list, league spokesman Brian McCarthy told KPRC 2 in an email.
“We are reviewing the complaint, and we will look into the matter under the personal conduct policy,” McCarthy wrote. “Not looking at commissioner’s exempt list as there’s been no formal charges and the league’s review has just begun.”
Watson previously served an 11-game suspension after being traded from the Texans to the Browns and signing a $230 million fully guaranteed contract.
Two Texas grand juries declined to indict him as a no-bill was filed after a criminal investigation from Houston police detectives.
Watson was fined $5 million by the NFL and ordered to undergo mandatory evaluation by behavioral experts and follow a treatment program. He cooperated in those evaluations and was reinstated by the NFL.
“We will respect the due process our legal system affords regarding the recent civil suit and follow the NFL’s guidelines on this matter,” a Browns spokesman said in a statement.
Watson has struggled with his play and injuries since the trade.
A former Texans Pro Bowl quarterback and first-round draft pick from Clemson, Watson is accused in this new lawsuit of sexually assaulting a Houston-area woman in October 2020 on a first date.
Watson is being sued for at least $1 million, according to the filing.
The lawsuit states that Watson met the woman, whose identity is not disclosed in the filing, at Prospect Park Restaurant and Bar in the Galleria area in July of 2020. One of his friends approached her and said Watson wanted her phone number. Flattered, according to the lawsuit, she gave it to the friend and the woman and Watson texted off and on for several months.
In October of 2020, Watson allegedly asked the woman to meet him at the Galleria. She turned him down because she was hesitant to be seen with him publicly,and invited him to her apartment for dinner. She “knew nothing of Watson’s proclivities” the lawsuit states.
When he came to her apartment for their date, he called the woman “aggressively yelling and screaming” because he couldn’t find her apartment and “doesn’t have time for this.”
Watson arrived and the woman asked him to have a seat in her living room while she finished putting her makeup on. To ease the tension from his “angry outburst” she tried having a conversation with him while he was in the other room, but he wasn’t responding.
She walked out of the bathroom to see why he was being so quiet and “shockingly found him completely naked on her bed, lying face-down on his stomach,” according to the lawsuit.
Watson “aggressively” insisted she massage him, gesturing to his buttocks. She asked if he meant his back, but says Watson indicated it was his buttocks he wanted massaged. She rubbed his back because she was “at this point in the encounter terrified,” according to the suit.
Watson wanted her to rub his glutes and was frustrated that she would only rub his back, “Watson then turned over, revealing an erection,” demanding then that she massage him from his knees to his groin.
“Jane Doe froze in fear, unsure of how to refuse Watson’s advances without jeopardizing her safety,” the lawsuit alleged.” Confused and scared, she reiterated to Watson that she wasn’t a masseuse.”
Watson asked what she wanted to do instead and before she could answer he grabbed her and raped her, the lawsuit alleges.
She felt paralyzed and wasn’t sure if she should risk her safety by trying to stop him, but did get away from him and ran to her dresser to grab a heavy piece of decor to defend herself and yelled at him to get out of her apartment. She said he was enraged when he left.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was reluctant initially to come forward because she knew he was a local celebrity and worried that if she reported what happened she’d be humiliated and publicly attacked.
“Later she watched as other women came forward, she was encouraged and was ready to come forward as well. But, she saw how those women who had suffered through the same conduct with Watson and who came forward were treated by Watson’s defense team and the public; this was discouraging to Jane Doe,” according to the lawsuit.
She did eventually approach Watson to resolve the issues without filing a lawsuit, but those efforts failed, according to the filing.
This is the first lawsuit against Watson in which he is specifically accused of sexual assault. Previously, Watson was accused in nearly two dozen lawsuits filed by massage therapists of harassing, assaulting or touching them during appointments when he played for the Houston Texans. In June of 2022, Tony Buzbee announced 20 of those 24 lawsuits had been settled.
RELATED: Browns QB Watson returns from suspension to face former team
In July of 2022, 30 women who had accused the Texans of turning a blind eye to allegations against their former star quarterback settled their claims against the team.
“I’ve always stood on my innocence and always said that I’ve never assaulted anyone or disrespected anyone and I’m continuing to stand on that,” Watson said previously. “But at the same time, I have to continue to push forward with my life and my career.
Watson has not been arrested or charged with a crime, and Hardin, has always professed his innocence while going back and forth with Buzbee through the press and in court proceedings.
Watson has long denied any wrongdoing and two separate Texas grand juries declined to indict him.
The woman in the new lawsuit said she suffered severe mental anguish, has panic attacks, experiences nervous breakdowns and has a hard time sleeping. She has also suffered from depression and anxiety.
“Survivors of sexual assault want two things. They want to heal from their trauma, and they want accountability,” Houston trauma therapist Chau Nguyen said. “She finally has the courage to say something and sometimes it takes years before you can seek that kind of justice.”
“My whole life I just have to be able to move forward and that’s the plan,” Watson said after his suspension.
“I have to be able to move forward with my career, move forward with my family, my personal life and everything.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com
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