The lawsuit filed last month against Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson accusing him of sexual assault and battery was resolved, the plaintiff’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, said Monday.
The settlement is confidential, Buzbee said. Online court records for Harris County, Texas, where the lawsuit was filed, still showed the case as active as of Monday night.
Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 9, alleged Watson sexually assaulted a woman while on a date at her apartment in October 2020. The lawsuit alleged that after calling the woman’s cellphone and “aggressively yelling and screaming and stating that he could not find her apartment,” Watson arrived and, while waiting for the woman to finish getting ready in her bathroom, undressed himself.
Upon coming out of her bathroom, the woman found Watson “completely naked on her bed,” according to the lawsuit. Watson then insisted she massage his buttocks, despite the woman repeating that she wasn’t a masseuse, per the lawsuit. She said she was afraid and attempted to massage his back instead. Watson turned over, the lawsuit alleged, then grabbed her and sexually assaulted her for several minutes. She eventually escaped and grabbed a piece of furniture for self-defense, the lawsuit said, and Watson left.
The lawsuit came more than two years after Watson reached settlements with over two dozen women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
The confidentiality agreement in this suit could mean the plaintiff won’t cooperate with any NFL investigation. That would make it unlikely that the NFL would find Watson guilty of a personal conduct policy violation.
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At the time of the lawsuit’s filing last month, Watson said he previously knew nothing about it. Hardin said Watson strongly denied the allegations. Because the lawsuit was new, it was independent of the previous accusations that led to Watson getting an 11-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy in 2022. The suspension came after Watson was accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct by more than 20 massage therapists.
Any new suspension would have opened the door for a new penalty and potentially for the Browns to void Watson’s remaining guarantees.
Watson is signed through 2026. The Browns still owe him about $92 million and have around $170 million in cap commitments to Watson on the fully guaranteed deal he signed in 2022. The Browns have reworked his deal ahead of each of the last two seasons.
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