Deshaun Watson's attorney Rusty Hardin filed a response Monday to the 22 sexual assault and misconduct lawsuits filed against his client, accusing the plaintiffs of lying about their encounters with the star quarterback.
"In the few days since Mr. Watson has learned the identity of his accusers, his legal team has already uncovered evidence that numerous allegations in this onslaught of cases are simply not true or accurate," the court documents read.
To summarize Watson's response, his legal team claimed:
- "After the massage therapy sessions with Mr. Watson, 8 plaintiffs bragged about, praised, and were excited about massaging Mr. Watson"
- "7 plaintiffs willingly worked or offered to work with Mr. Watson after their alleged incidents"
- "3 plaintiffs lied about the number of sessions they actually had with Mr. Watson"
- "3 plaintiffs lied about their alleged trauma and resulting harm"
- "5 plaintiffs told others they wanted to get money out of Mr. Watson"
- "5 plaintiffs have scrubbed or entirely deleted their social media accounts"
Watson's accusers were exposed after his attorneys successfully argued to have their identities revealed. Originally, 23 lawsuits were filed against Watson but one accuser dropped her lawsuit "in light of privacy and security concerns."
The legal response named 16 plaintiffs while refuting multiple allegations. Hardin questioned why Watson's accusers would continue to work with him after suffering traumatic moments with the NFL star. He also called the lawsuits "replete with mischaracterizations of [his] conduct."
"These range from being misleading, to fraudulent, to slanderous," the document said. "Importantly, only two of the twenty-two lawsuits allege that Mr. Watson forced any type of sexual activity -- an allegation Mr. Watson again vehemently denies."
Watson and his attorney are requesting to have the lawsuits against him thrown out. They are also asking the courts to force his accusers to pay his court costs.
Look above to view the recent court documents.
Source: ESPN
