On Monday, Deshaun Watson's attorney, Rusty Hardin filed an answer to the petitions against him and per the filings, "generally denies the allegations and claims set forth in Plaintiff’s Original Petition and demands strict proof thereof by a preponderance of the evidence and clear and convincing evidence."
The answer claims inconsistencies in statements from the many of the plaintiffs, all but 6 of the 22 to be exact.
The answer begins with the following statement:
Since March 16, 2021, when the first of twenty-two lawsuits was filed against Deshaun Watson (“Mr. Watson”), he has been adamant that he did not engage in any of the improper conduct that has been alleged. At the same time, he and his defense team have insisted that they adamantly oppose, condemn, and disapprove of any type of sexual misconduct against women. Legitimate claims should be reported to authorities, taken seriously, and their proponents treated respectfully. However, 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 answer filed continues with the following:
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. For example:
- 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; and
- 5 plaintiffs have scrubbed or entirely deleted their social media accounts.
Read the entire from Deshaun Watson here:
Here is exhibit 1 attached to Watson's original answer:
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