Editors’ note: This story contains accounts of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or at https://www.rainn.org.
A lawsuit was filed Thursday against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson in Texas, stating that he “attempted to solicit sexually related acts with Plaintiff including intercourse,” according to the filing in Harris County.
This filing by a Jane Doe comes less than two months after the NFL and NFLPA agreed to suspend Watson for 11 games and fine him $5 million for reported sexual misconduct.
This new filing details an encounter from December 2020 in a hotel room. Similar to the previous suits filed against him, Watson contacted Jane Doe via direct message on Instagram, and according to the petition, the two met for a massage at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa.
During the massage, the filing reads that “Watson removed his towel and offered to let her ‘get on top.’ Plaintiff refused to have sex with Watson, however, he was able to pressure her into oral sex with the Defendant.” He then allegedly paid her $300 when her hourly massage rate was normally $115.
This is not the first lawsuit to be filed against the quarterback; however, it was filed with a different law firm than the other two dozen cases Tony Buzbee filed from March 2021 to June of this year. The accounts in those cases range from Watson refusing to cover his genitals to the quarterback “touching [a plaintiff] with his penis and trying to force her to perform oral sex on him.”
Only one case was dropped due to privacy concerns in April 2021. Watson agreed to settle 20 of the 24 remaining active lawsuits in late June, and later, he reportedly agreed to settle three of the remaining four civil suits filed against him ahead of independent arbitrator Sue L. Robinson’s initial disciplinary decision.
The counts listed against Watson in Thursday’s filing are civil assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The quarterback returned Monday to the Browns’ facility for the first time since his ban began Aug. 30. He’s ineligible to practice with the team until Nov. 14 and is expected to return from his suspension Dec. 4 against the Texans.
He has stood by his innocence and denied the previous allegations against him.
