The woman in the latest lawsuit said she wanted to file the suit back in 2021, but was taken to dinner by one of Watson's lawyers and was convinced not to do so.
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According to the lawsuit, the woman changed her mind after watching HBO's "Real Sports" piece on Watson. After watching that, the woman was "struck by the courage of the victims willing to step forward and speak, and was extremely displeased by (Deshaun) Watson and his legal team's mistreatment and revictimization of the (victims)," the suit states.
The lawsuit, which is the 23rd civil lawsuit filed against the football star, states the woman had three encounters with Watson. The first session was on June 7, 2020. The second one was on Aug. 24, 2020. The last session was in late August or early September 2020, the suit states. She added that Watson's behavior grew during every massage.
ABC13 reached out to Watson's attorney Rusty Hardin, who replied with the following statement:
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"Deshaun Watson vehemently denies the allegations, just as he has since she first discussed them with members of our firm in March of last year. She repeated the allegations on social media in August and he denied them then. The only thing new about her contentions is the embellishment making them more extreme than prior versions. Deshaun's denial remains the same.
The two highly respected lawyers from our firm, Letitia Quinones and Rachel Lewis, also vehemently deny there was any coercion or intimidation involved in the very cordial meeting at Vic and Anthony's (Mr. Buzbee and the plaintiff are not even right about where the meeting was, much less what was said). They met her to see if she was one of Mr. Buzbee's then still anonymous plaintiffs. At that time Mr. Buzbee refused to identify his clients. The suggestion that either of these two accomplished lawyers would have said "us black women must stick together" is absurd. The interview was so congenial, she joined the lawyers for dinner afterwards.
We are aware that more than a year ago she had other lawyers representing her and they ultimately terminated the representation. This plaintiff has long had a vendetta against Deshaun since she jealously and angrily published Deshaun's personal data on social media in November 2020. In filing her lawsuit now she was obviously not influenced by recent developments. We are not surprised Mr. Buzbee was willing to say just about anything to get more publicity. He knows the NFL continues to investigate these cases, and this is a transparent attempt to further punish the man he sees as a potential payday."
SEE ALSO:
Deshaun Watson returned to Houston for deposition in civil lawsuits alleging sexual assaults
Cleveland Browns' Deshaun Watson must address past with massage therapists, judge rules
Deshaun Watson denies sexual assault allegations, doesn't intend to settle civil suits