DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Deshaun Watson Legal Issues cont.

It was a good article. It only needed to go n one thread. The poster was chastising an bullying others the other day for posting DIFFERENT stories containing DIFFERENT updates on the same thread. Now we have this. Personally I believe it is trolling behavior.

It's spam if you don't like the message. On the other hand, posting almost daily opinion articles from Florio or spin-offs of his articles from other sites are approved of if you agree w/their message. Once again, a few want to control what is said and not said on this board.

JMHO, lots of folks/posters keep typing about numbers- 10, 22, 60, 400? The number does not matter. DW employed masseuses and got massages. In some cases, he got more. He has done nothing criminal. He, may or may not, live by some societal unwritten taboos. Hell, decades ago we had a President who did not have sexual relations with an intern. Was he punished, lost his job? He could have 2,000 masseuses and double the massages if he paid for them and didn't commit a PROVEABLE crime. Do you really think the main lawyer for the ladies is just in it to right wrongs.....get real. Watson should play and if he doesn't, NFL is openning themselves up to litigation.

j/c...

Trying real hard to understand this angle with Robert Kraft.

He caught two misdemeanor solicitation charges... that were dropped.

Nobody was suing him for sexual assault, harassment or misconduct.

What's the impetus for "punishment"?

I'm trying to find NFL players that have been suspended for solicitation, can't find any. Eugene Robinson was arrested less than 24 hours before the Super Bowl -- he was allowed to play in the game and was never suspended.

Seventeen members of the 2005 Vikings hired 90-110 prostitutes for their cruise on the "Love Boat"... no one was suspended.

In fact, I can only find one incident of someone being suspended in any sport... Darryl Strawberry... but there was more than the prostitute on his arm -- there was the bag of cocaine in his pocket -- again.


I think the biggest (obvious) difference is what we call the "victims". Are there any when a date with a prostitute goes wrong (or right, for that matter)? The prostitute is doing exactly what they expected they would be doing. Quite a bit different than being coerced into something they didn't expect to be doing, right?


Just curious, what do people think would have been the appropriate punishment for Kraft?

I wonder how many people have been suspended for getting massages?

Once again, the NFL is not the legal system. Thus far, none of these guys, whether it be Watson, Snyder, Kraft, Irsay, Jones, etc have been found guilty in a court of law. Well, maybe Irsay was....I can't really remember?

Thus, this always goes back to the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy and how the NFL doles out punishments. It's quite evident that all have violated some of the stipulations w/in the Personal Conduct policy. What's the right thing to do? I don't know............but, I do know how I would defend Watson should the NFL decide to punish him w/a severe suspension.

Didn't realize these ladies were suing him for "receiving massages"? I'll have to read the story again.

If the NFL is not the legal system, why are some posters advocating for no suspension because the GJ didn't indict?

Seems like trying to play both sides against the middle.


What do you think Kraft's punishment should have been?

Don't like Kraft at all. His charges were dropped, he had no pending lawsuits. His charges were solicitation. He is an apple.

Watson did not get any charges either. He has 26 pending lawsuits for Sexual Assault? He is an orange.

The link between Kraft and Watson? Whataboutism. Paying for sex and sexual assault...not the same thing, not the same ballpark.

Initially vers tried to make the Kraft case about trafficking. That's just a flat out lie. Then it was a pivot to about fairness of owner vs player and race. As you just spelled out.... There is no angle with Kraft. Its deflection.

Twenty four... 24.... and counting. I know that means nothing to you.

And it is the only thing that seems to matter to you.

No, you are not a different person in this forum and people don't like when you do it. I repeat, sex trafficking charges in this case would have had nothing to do with Kraft. It was the massage parlor itself that would have faced such charges but did not. It was an area wide investigation of several locations. In which over 300 charges were filed at other locations. But somehow this location was not charged with sex trafficking nor was anyone involved.

You conveniently forgot to mention that one of the two men have 24 incidents. Even though I know that's something you would like to ignore in your slanted view.

j/c:



Guessing an announcement from the NFL regarding any suspension is just around the corner.

Yet you can't keep our names out of your mouth. You refuse to address us as men directly while saying things about us in general to everyone else. There's a name for that. Try to man up for as change.

So, am I reading Buzbee's comments correctly? Hers is one of the lawsuits to be dismissed. The one who started it all?

No. He's stating that the one's they've settled on will be dismissed. The other 4 are still on-going.

Ah. Thank you.

Now that's some welcome news.

And now, when we win a couple of Superbowls with him, we can build a statue right next to Jim Brown!

Wise move for Watson to settle.

As long as you're counting yourself as a part of the few.

Browns QB Deshaun Watson settles all but four of 24 lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct
Brent Schrotenboer
USA TODAY

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has reached a confidential settlement with all but four of the 24 women who sued him and accused him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions in 2020 and early 2021, the women’s attorney said Tuesday.

The settlements end the women’s litigation against him nearly 15 months after most were filed in 2021.

“Today I announce that all cases against Deshaun Watson, with the exception of four, have settled,” plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee said in a statement. “We are working through the paperwork related to those settlements. Once we have done so, those particular cases will be dismissed. The terms and amounts of the settlements are confidential. We won’t comment further on the settlements or those cases.”

Settling the cases allows Watson to move on from litigation that generated regular ugly headlines about him, at least somewhat spoiling his recent arrival in Cleveland as the new $230 million quarterback of the Browns. Settling the cases also helps him avoid several days of deposition testimony that were scheduled for him this week. Those depositions are no longer going forward.

A big question now is how the settlement might affect any decision to suspend him under the NFL’s personal conduct policy. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in May the investigation into the allegations against Watson was nearing an end, but it’s not clear what the league knew about two new lawsuits filed against Watson this year or information that came out of recent pretrial discovery.

Watson, 26, never was arrested or charged after two grand juries declined to indict him. There could have been several reasons the grand juries chose not to indict him, including a lack of hard evidence in these cases individually when Watson’s word was pitted against those of the women. Only one of the criminal complainants was called in to testify at the Harris County grand jury proceeding in March even though other complainants there were subpoenaed and ready to testify, Buzbee told USA TODAY Sports previously.

One of the cases that did not settle is the lawsuit of the first plaintiff to sue Watson, Ashley Solis. Buzbee said he looks forward to trying her case and the others remaining active in due course.

“The cases against Deshaun Watson started with one phone call, from one brave and strong woman,” Buzbee stated. “That woman was Ashley Solis. At the time of that call she was just one of the hundreds of calls seeking legal assistance that our firm gets weekly. Even though she was originally turned away by our screening process, my staff insisted that I personally speak with her. I’m glad she persisted. Once we took a second look, and after having contact with Watson’s original lawyer who disrespected Ashley and her profession and who arrogantly minimized the conduct of someone he referred to as an 'asset,' I was convinced that our law firm should try to help her.

“As a result of Ashley’s lone but brave voice, soon many women who had allegedly experienced the same conduct were emboldened to step forward. I am incredibly proud to represent them all. They have endured vile criticism and fanatical ignorance. They faced withering cross examination by skilled litigators and stood firm. They are warriors all. Today we have an important announcement about these cases, but it is important to point out that, without Ashley Solis, the conduct experienced by these women would likely have continued unfettered. The truth is, without her courage and willingness to come forward, the NFL wouldn’t currently be contemplating discipline; there would be no examination of how teams might knowingly or unknowingly enable certain behavior; sports teams wouldn’t be reviewing their personnel screening processes; and this important story wouldn’t have dominated the sports headlines for more than a year.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...e-sexual-misconduct-massages/7688001001/

I guess it's good that the Browns will probably have at least some amount of clarity on the status of their starting QB. IMO, confidentially settling the cases doesn't really bring much closure to the story. For me, I wanted to know how much of the allegations were true. I was hoping to get much more information than it looks like we're going to get. I've had a hard time imagining myself cheering for a guy that did the things included in the accusations.

And unless of course you think they're all prostitutes or liars, it should matter to everyone IMO.

If that's what you think this is actually about, that's the problem here. How many people ejaculate on their massage therapists? How many people ask their message therapists to do this?

j/c...

j/c...

Well, this was a very important first step. I'm glad Watson became wise to the necessary protocol.

Some thoughts:

It would seem that cases settled would mean a more lenient suspension for Watson. Maybe not, but seems like common sense that "the shield" would have to respond differently with 26 cases hanging in the balance.

Over a month 'til TC... which many have seen as the NFL's "deadline"... I wonder if the other four cases will be settled before then?

Obviously there is some sort of NDA (something that was objected to in the past, during Miami's pursuit of Watson) as the "numbers" won't be disclosed.

This is the quickest path to Watson repairing his image (once the other four are settled), but it really has to begin with admitting wrongdoing and a heartfelt apology. Interested in seeing how that plays out. Dude was squeaky clean and an asset to his community before this trash.

The other four will probably hang on until Solis settles, as she is the face of the lawsuits and the first to come forward. I wonder what that will take, since her "demand" at the beginning of this sh*tshow was $100,000. I bet they're hung up on payment vs NDA as she could expect huge payouts in telling her story.

A couple of month later…. I’m soooo surprised.

It is good that 20 women get some closure to their ordeal. As was stated when this all began with Cleveland, settling the cases is an important move for Watson and the Browns, so it's good to see we are at or near that point now.

jc

i dunno how i feel about this. i understand that in cases like this, you gotta do what the lawyers say for the best outcome, but damn. morally, settling always seems like an admission of guilt. i get that some people do settle for the simple reason of not wasting time in court, but when it comes to sexual misconduct cases, it feels dirty.

I think you'll find that 100k wasn't her "demand". I think in fact she was one of the women who turned down a 100k settlement offer when Miami was considering trading for watson.


At least watson finally wised up and realized he couldn't win in court and this would drag out forever if he didn't settle with at least most of these women. While we may never know the exact amount, you can bet he paid out more than 100k each to these women. Things took a much bigger turn for the worse since the initial settlement offer.

You don’t have so many alternatives with such serious allegation. Finally someone inside Team Watson started to use their sense.

I would have to think this has been in the works for a while, 20+ settlements takes time. You can't get two people to agree on dinner half the time, much less to agree to settle lawsuits.

I hope this means that the NFLPA and Watson's defense team will go after the NFL hard for their biased and unfair treatment of owners vs players when it comes to the league's Personal Conduct policy. I look forward to seeing Watson on the field for the majority of this year's games.

Btw----there are still a handful of folks who refuse to acknowledge the difference between "alleged" and "convicted."

so what do you think? is this one of those situations where they got the vague accusations out the way, and are focused on maybe fighting the more serious allegations?

again, settling always seemed weird to me, in any situation.

I think it had far more to do with Watson and his lawyers getting absolutely destroyed in the court of public opinion. I don't think Watson or maybe his career could take another year+ of this limbo status.

I wonder if the economics came into it as well. I have no clue what Watson is paying his lawyers and for how long this could have dragged out, but what if the NFL said something like:

1. You can stop paying your lawyers this year, settle, and get docked pay on your $1.035MM salary for "insert game" suspension.

OR

2. You can continue to pay your lawyers through next year, fight the cases, and then get docked pay on your $46MM salary for "insert game" suspension.

"Which makes more sense, Deshaun?"

Sounds more like a demand to my ears...


HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Shortly after Ashley Solis went public as one of the 22 women accusing Deshaun Watson of unwanted sexual acts, the Houston Texans quarterback's lawyer fired back at claims that she and fellow accusers aren't going after his money.

According to Rusty Hardin, Watson's attorney, Solis had demanded $100,000 to stay quiet about the allegations.

In a statement released Tuesday, Hardin said there are documents to prove Tony Buzbee, Solis' attorney, sought the hush money to quietly settle the allegations the month before he filed the first lawsuit in the middle of March 2021.

A Watson representative asked Buzbee and his firm "the rationale behind the $100k demand" given that "we don't believe that the alleged facts show that Deshaun did anything wrong," Hardin added.

Buzbee was stated as saying, "We made a legit demand. You rejected it. We won't be making another or bid against ourselves."

Watson, who faces 22 different civil lawsuits alleging sexual harassment, assault and misconduct, has denied wrongdoing since the first pieces of litigation emerged. Despite the highly graphic nature of the allegations, all happening during massage therapy sessions, Watson gained the support of 18 other professional masseuses who said their experience with the NFL star doesn't align with what the lawsuits state.

Late last week, Houston police said a report concerning Watson was filed, marking the first time law enforcement has been tied to an allegation in these cases. So far, HPD hasn't offered anything beyond receiving a report.

Here is Hardin's full statement after Buzbee's news conference on Tuesday:

In the hours after the revealing news conference, Rusty Hardin, the lawyer representing Watson, gave the following statement:

At a press conference today, attorney Anthony Buzbee introduced the first plaintiff to the media. She identified herself as Ashley Solis. In her remarks, Ms. Solis stated: "People say that I'm doing this just for money. That is false."

Mr. Buzbee himself repeatedly claimed that the litigation he filed on behalf of other Jane Does "isn't about money." At his initial press conference on March 19 announcing the first wave of lawsuits, Mr. Buzbee stated: "The case ain't about money. And it certainly ain't about seeking publicity or fame. I personally don't need it. And these women don't want it. This case is about female empowerment."

In fact, according to the documentation below, Mr. Buzbee sought $100,000 in hush money on behalf of Ms. Solis to quietly settle the allegations the month before he filed the first lawsuit.

"My client's demand is $100,000," Buzbee associate Cornelia Brandfield-Harvey wrote in a February 9, 2021 email on behalf of Ms. Solis. Ms. Brandfield-Harvey followed up with a clarification of the $100,000 demand later that same day. "This offer remains open until Friday of this week." Mr. Buzbee is copied on all of the emails.

The Watson representative who engaged in the discussions with Mr. Buzbee and his firm is Scott Gaffield, the General Counsel at the Athletes First agency of Laguna Beach.

On February 19, Mr. Gaffield responded to Mr. Buzbee and Ms. Brandfield-Harvey by inquiring about "the rationale behind the $100k demand" given that "we don't believe that the alleged facts show that Deshaun did anything wrong..."

Mr. Buzbee responded that same morning: "We made a legit demand. You rejected it. We won't be making another or bid against ourselves." He then added: "This is Houston, Texas. Perhaps you should find him a lawyer here so you can apprise both you and your client of the landscape here and who you are dealing with."

In a written statement, Mr. Gaffield said:

"My email exchanges with Mr. Buzbee and Ms. Brandfield-Harvey were very clear. We did not think that the facts showed that Deshaun did anything wrong with their client. We believed then - and fully believe now - that Deshaun learned a lesson about putting himself in this type of situation by interacting with people he does not know. As the emails show, we were willing to continue discussions on Deshaun's behalf to explore ways to prevent a lawsuit and a public spectacle. But Mr. Buzbee informed us that he was unwilling to do so. We expect that this matter will be resolved in court."

The email communications occurred between February 3 and February 19, 2021.

https://abc13.com/deshaun-watson-accuser-ashley-solis-rusty-hardin-who-is/10492354/

I'm sure Deshaun was getting pressure from all sides, and a scenario such as yours makes a lot of sense.

This is the article I remember reading too. The fact it was written well over one year before the other.....lol.