June 6th, 2022 at 11:08am CST by using Sam Robinson
A week after a twenty third girl filed a civil lawsuit against Deshaun Watson, every other rubdown therapist has completed so, Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com reviews (on Twitter).
The quantity of ladies who’ve accused the Browns quarterback of sexual misconduct and/or sexual attack stood at 22 for many months. The 23rd accuser filed healthy after seeing of Watson’s accusers, Kyla Hayes and Ashley Solis, detail their allegations for the duration of an episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in overdue May.
The twenty fourth lawsuit shows the accuser and Watson met for 2 massages, the first ending early because the quarterback took a cellphone name. The 2nd is whilst the alleged misconduct happened, with the in shape also indicating the plaintiff quit rubdown remedy because of it, according to Barshop and ESPN.com’s Jake Trotter. This suit additionally alleges Watson sought massages from “random strangers on Instagram” more than a hundred instances, in line with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The Real Sports segment also indicated Watson has obtained greater than 100 massages in a 12 months.
Watson has denied all allegations in opposition to him, however the growing range of accusers will practice stress at the NFL from a public-perception point of view. The league has concluded its interviews with the 26-12 months-old passer. The duration for pretrial discovery expires July 1, pointing to a suspension coming after that date. Watson has not been criminally charged, however that isn’t important for a suspension underneath the NFL’s private behavior policy.
Ten of the primary 22 accusers made criminal proceedings against Watson. Those led to two grand juries not recommending fees in opposition to the embattled quarterback. The civil fits are also not predicted to be resolved until at the least 2023, with the growing range of suits set to tug this method out. But a suspension is expected to be passed down before this season begins. Additional punishment may want to emerge after the realization of the civil fits, however with that technique set to pause from August 1, 2022-March 1, 2023, it’s miles viable this count number will no longer be finalized with the aid of the begin of the 2023 season.
Monday’s lawsuit mentions the “satisfied endings” statement Watson protection legal professional Rusty Hardin made at some point of an interview with Houston Sports Radio 610 final week, Barshop provides (through Twitter). Hardin referenced satisfied-finishing massages no longer being illegal, and while Watson’s defense leader later tried to make clear his comments as hypothetical, the legal professional for all 24 accusers, Tony Buzbee, said (thru Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com) they might be used in civil suits alleging Watson tried to turn massages from healing to sexual in nature.
The 23rd lawsuit emerged earlier than Hardin’s comments, however it alleges Watson provided each accuser $100K to settle the instances. Not all the accusers had been organized to settle, Florio notes, adding Watson’s team blanketed “competitive nondisclosure agreements” as a part of those agreement offers. The NDA matter got here up while the Texans and Dolphins had been discussing a Watson deal before last yr’s change deadline. The Dolphins moved in a distinctive direction, leading to the Browns signing off on a change and ancient extension agreement. They now look ahead to to find out how much time their new quarterback will leave out.Follow @PFRumors
