19 total lawsuits now filed against Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson
FILE PHOTO: Deshaun Watson #4 of the Houston Texans drops back to pass during a game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on December 13, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
HOUSTON - Three more civil lawsuits were filed against Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson in Harris County on Sunday night, bringing the total number of lawsuits filed against Watson to 19.
The women, identified as Jane Does in the lawsuits, accuse Watson of assaulting and harassing them during massage sessions.
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In one of the lawsuits filed Monday, a licensed massage therapist from Houston accuses Watson of "exposing himself to her and touching her with his penis."
In another lawsuit, a licensed massage therapist from Houston accuses Watson of "exposing himself to her and purposely touching her with his penis." The lawsuit states that the woman saw Watson for three massage sessions and claims his behavior would "get progressively worse" during each session. The lawsuit states that she told Watson she was firing him as a client after the third session.
In the third lawsuit, a massage therapist, who was a massage therapy student at the time, reportedly saw Watson for two massage sessions and accuses Watson of "exposing himself to her, purposely touching her with his penis and ejaculating onto her."
RELATED: 16th lawsuit filed against Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson, Attorney Rusty Hardin responds
The three newly filed lawsuits are in addition to the 16 other lawsuits filed against Watson within the past two weeks. The first was filed on March 16.
EXPLICIT: READ THE LAWSUITS BELOW
Lawsuit 1 | Lawsuit 2 | Lawsuit 3 | Lawsuit 4 | Lawsuit 5 | Lawsuit 6 | Lawsuit 7 | Lawsuit 8 | Lawsuit 9 | Lawsuit 10 | Lawsuit 11 | Lawsuit 12 | Lawsuit 13 | Lawsuit 14 | Lawsuit 15 | Lawsuit 16 | Lawsuit 17 | Lawsuit 18 | Lawsuit 19
All of the women are identified as Jane Does in their respective civil lawsuits. They are each seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as court costs.
High-profile Houston attorney Tony Buzbee is representing all of the women accusing Watson.
Watson's attorney Rusty Hardin released the following statement on Monday:
"Like a lot of people, Deshaun regularly deletes past Instagram messages. That said, he has not deleted any messages since March 15th, the day before the first lawsuit was filed. We categorically deny that he has reached out directly to his accusers in an attempt to settle these cases.
Opposing counsel’s continued statements that these cases aren’t about money do not square with the facts in at least two of these cases. It is incredibly irresponsible to continue to make these types of false allegations in this avalanche of anonymous lawsuits, particularly while we are still trying to find out who the accusers are. We will address these issues, and others raised in these cases, in our formal response to the court in the coming weeks."
After the first lawsuit was filed two weeks ago, the NFL confirmed the matter was "now under review of the personal conduct policy", and the Houston Texans said they will stay in close contact with the league as they investigate.