Suspended Watson facing additional civil lawsuit

BEREA, Ohio -- Another pistillate has filed a civilian suit against Deshaun Watson, alleging the suspended Cleveland Browns backmost pressured her into oral enactment during a massage league successful 2020.

It is the 26th known suit filed against Watson, accusing him of inappropriate intersexual misconduct oregon intersexual battle during massages.

In the suit filed Thursday successful Harris County (Texas), Watson is accused of soliciting the plaintiff implicit Instagram with a nonstop connection for a massage astatine a Houstonian edifice country successful Texas successful December 2020, portion helium was a subordinate of the Texans. The suit states that during the session, Watson "continually pressured [the plaintiff] into massaging his backstage area" earlier helium "removed his towel" and "offered to fto her 'get connected top.'" According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff "refused to person enactment with Watson, however, helium was capable to unit her into oral sex" and "Watson paid [the plaintiff] $300 for her services, though her mean complaint was $115 for an hr massage."

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff has "suffered from terrible slump and anxiety" since the alleged incident.

"My client's acquisition with Deshaun Watson follows a bid of disturbingly akin encounters reported by much than 20 women who person filed suit against the NFL superstar," the woman's lawyer, Anissah Nguyen, told ESPN. "Like truthful galore others, my lawsuit spent astir 2 years struggling to header with the shame and trauma from each that helium has stolen from her and the regular symptom that has go her reality.

"Knowing her communicative volition bring connected the hard conversations, disapproval and adjacent victim-blaming, the spot and bravery of these different women gave my lawsuit the courageousness to basal up and talk out. She seeks justness not lone for herself and her ain healing, but for the much than 20 women who refused to beryllium shamed into silence, and the victims who person yet to travel forward."

Watson settled 23 of the lawsuits against him this past summer, but 1 remains outstanding, according to the plaintiff's attorney, Tony Buzbee, who besides represented the different women who had sued. One suit was dropped aft a judge's ruling that the plaintiffs needed to amend their petitions to disclose their names. Two different women filed transgression complaints against Watson but did not writer him.

In July, the Texans reached settlements with 30 women who made claims oregon were prepared to marque them against the NFL enactment for what Buzbee called its alleged "enabling" of Watson's behavior. The New York Times reported implicit the summertime that the Texans had arranged for Watson to spot massage therapists successful a Houstonian edifice room.

Watson is serving an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL's idiosyncratic behaviour argumentation by committing intersexual battle connected massage therapists, arsenic defined by the NFL. On Aug. 18, the NFL and NFL Players Association reached a colony connected Watson's suspension. He was besides fined $5 cardinal and has had to acquisition a mandatory attraction program.

Two expansive juries successful Texas declined to prosecute transgression charges against Watson earlier this year. But Sue L. Robinson, an autarkic arbiter jointly appointed by the league and players' union, recovered that "the NFL carried its load to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Mr. Watson engaged successful intersexual assault." Robinson besides concluded successful her study that Watson's behaviour was some "egregious" and "predatory."

Watson has repeatedly denied immoderate wrongdoing and said that radical haven't been funny successful listening to his broadside of the story.

"I'll proceed to basal connected my innocence, conscionable because, you know, settlements and things similar that hap doesn't mean that a idiosyncratic is blameworthy for anything," helium said Aug. 18, aft the colony agreement. "I consciousness similar a idiosyncratic has an accidental to basal connected his innocence and beryllium that, and we proved that from a ineligible side, and conscionable going to proceed to propulsion guardant arsenic an idiosyncratic and arsenic a person."

Watson was allowed to re-enter the Browns grooming installation this week aft being banned since Aug. 30 arsenic portion of the settlement. He can't signifier with the squad again until Nov. 14. and won't beryllium eligible to play until Week 13, erstwhile the Browns question to look the Texans successful Houston connected Dec. 4.