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.
One of the women who filed a lawsuit against Deshaun Watson accusing him of sexual misconduct filed a civil suit against the Texans on Monday, alleging that the organization enabled the quarterback’s behavior during massage therapy sessions.
Jenny Vrentas of The New York Times reported June 7 that Watson booked massage therapy sessions with at least 66 women over the span of 17 months dating back to the fall of 2019. The Times also reported that the franchise provided facilities and nondisclosure agreements for his sessions.
The lawsuit, filed in Texas’s Harris County, alleges Watson sought out closer to 100 different women for massages and used the “status and resources provided to him as a Houston Texans player” to do so.
“Today we filed the first case of what will likely be many against the Houston Texans related to Deshaun Watson’s behavior,” attorney Tony Buzbee, who has represented the plaintiffs throughout the legal proceedings involving Watson, said in a statement Monday, per ESPN’s Jake Trotter. “Suffice it to say, the overwhelming evidence collected indicating that the Houston Texans enabled Watson’s behavior is incredibly damning. We believe that the Texans knew or most certainly should have known of Watson’s conduct. Beyond that, we think the filing speaks for itself.”
In the lawsuit filed against the Texans, the plaintiff alleges that the organization helped to aid Watson’s alleged misconduct by arranging rooms for him at the Houstonian hotel under an alias. The Texans are also accused of providing Watson with massage tables for private massage sessions and supplying him with a nondisclosure agreement form for the therapists to sign. The lawsuit also states the Texans removed a social media post from another woman that threatened to expose Watson’s misconduct in November 2020.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the Texans were aware of Watson’s misconduct. The team allegedly admitted to detectives that they were notified of the quarterback being “inappropriate with at least one therapist.”
The lawsuit also said the owner of the business that provides massage services to the Texans, Genuine Touch, complained to the Texans that Watson was seeking out unqualified strangers for massages via Instagram. Joni Honn, the owner of that business, was made aware of what she described as Watson’s “towel trick” in massage sessions—his insistence on using a small towel rather than a standard-sized one—by at least two of her therapists.
“She even reported that alarming fact to the Texans, who did nothing about it,” the lawsuit states.
The Texans acknowledged the lawsuit filed against them in a statement Monday.
“Since March 2021, we have fully supported and complied with law enforcement and the various investigations,” the statement said. “We will continue to take the necessary steps to address the allegations against our organization.”
The plaintiff who filed Monday’s lawsuit previously sued Watson and was among the four women who did not settle their lawsuit with the quarterback last Tuesday. She alleged in her first lawsuit that she had two encounters with Watson at her mother’s home in Manvel, Texas, after he requested a massage from her on Instagram in November 2020. During the second massage, Watson “assaulted and harassed” her “by aggressively exposing his naked body to her, purposely touching her with his penis and ultimately ejaculating onto her,” the lawsuit says.
The same woman testified before a grand jury in Brazoria County, Texas, in March, the second grand jury that chose not to indict him on criminal charges. A Harris County grand jury had previously returned nine “no” decisions on nine criminal complaints against Watson in March and a county prosecutor said that the decision concluded criminal proceedings against him in that county.
Shortly after the Harris County grand jury concluded, Cleveland traded for Watson and signed him to a five-year contract worth a guaranteed $230 million. A clause built into the contract mandates Watson will lose only $55,556 for every game he’s suspended this season.
Watson faced two dozen civil lawsuits at one point, each detailing graphic accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault that occurred during massage therapy sessions. The accounts range from Watson allegedly 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.” The latest detailed that Watson masturbated and ejaculated on the plaintiff without her consent.
The quarterback has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, but did say earlier this month he regretted the impact that the allegations had on those around him.
Buzbee announced last Tuesday that Watson agreed to settle 20 of the 24 lawsuits. He said the terms and amounts agreed to are confidential and “we won’t comment further on the settlements or those cases.”
“Today, I announce that all cases against Deshaun Watson, with the exception of four, have settled,” Buzbee said in a statement last week. “We are working through the paperwork related to those settlements. “Once we have done so, those particular cases will be dismissed.”
In the wake of the settlement news, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that the “development has no impact on the collectively bargained disciplinary process.”
Settlement talks regarding a suspension from the league between the NFL and the players association took place two weeks ago, but collapsed after the league insisted on a full-year suspension for Watson, according to The MMQB’s Albert Breer. The NFLPA argued for a lighter punishment, pointing to a precedent set in cases involving three of the league’s owners—the Commanders’ Daniel Snyder, Patriots’ Robert Kraft and Cowboys’ Jerry Jones.
The lack of a settlement prompted U.S District Court Judge Sue L. Robinson, the disciplinary officer appointed by the NFL and players association, to schedule Watson’s disciplinary hearing for Tuesday.
