Nearly three years since the first lawsuits against him were filed by multiple women, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson might have to testify again in one of the remaining cases that accuse him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions.
An attorney for a woman who sued him in October 2022 recently asked a court in Harris County, Texas, to compel Watson to testify in another in-person deposition before Aug. 1.
Watson last appeared in a deposition in the case in Houston on June 9. But a new court filing states the woman’s attorney ended it after two hours and 14 minutes because Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, improperly instructed Watson not to answer certain questions about other cases, such as whether he had been sexually aroused during massage sessions in the past.
‘Plaintiff seeks an order from this Court compelling the re-deposition of Defendant Watson in order to propound allowable discovery and have such answers produced,’ said the court filing submitted by David Bickham, one of the woman’s attorneys.
Deshaun Watson’s remaining lawsuits
The plaintiff in this case was the last of 26 women to sue Watson in civil court and accuse him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions when Watson was playing for the Houston Texans. Hardin said Watson sometimes had consensual sexual encounters during massage sessions but denied wrongdoing. Watson then reached confidential settlements to resolve 23 of the 26 lawsuits. Of the three others, one was withdrawn by the plaintiff shortly after being filed in March 2021, and two more remain pending – this one and another one filed in March 2021 that has no apparent trial date set.
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The allegations upended Watson’s NFL career, but he was never arrested or charged with a crime. He didn’t play in the 2021 season, then was traded to the Cleveland Browns in March 2022. After the NFL investigated him, he was suspended for 11 games under a settlement reached between the league and the NFL Players Association.
Deshaun Watson’s previous deposition
In this case, Hardin has aggressively denied the woman’s allegations that Watson pressured her into oral sex at The Houstonian hotel in December 2020. In Watson’s deposition in June, Hardin blasted one of the woman’s attorneys, Anissah Nguyen, during their dispute about her questions to Watson, according to a partial transcript filed in court last week. Hardin appeared to reference how this lawsuit was the only one that was filed after Watson settled the other cases in 2022.
‘Not only is your lawsuit irrational and has no value at all, but we are not going to be trying other incidents in other cases,’ Hardin said to Nguyen, according to the transcript. ‘There’s no secret in the world that he was sued by multiple women and settled multiple lawsuits.· But we are not going to try those cases again, and we’re not going to be answering questions about those other cases, all of which are the subject of Confidentiality Agreements.
‘You − you jumped in at the last minute,’ Hardin continued. ‘The evidence is going to show and has shown already with the filings just what a bogus lawsuit this is.· And you can’t just file a lawsuit against a man that has some money and then get to go into any and everything.· Not going to happen. If you want to take it to the Court, you can do so, but he is not going to answer about other incidents.· You ask a man to come in here and ask did he ever get an erection during a massage, we’re not answering those kind of questions.· We will answer anything you want about (the plaintiff in the case) and her − and his encounter with her.’
It’s up to a judge to decide whether Watson must testify again. The woman’s attorney wants Watson to provide his availability for a deposition on or before May 1.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
