Rusty Hardin, the attorney for Deshaun Watson, “strongly” denied allegations of sexual assault against the Browns quarterback in a new civil suit filed Monday. That prompted the plaintiff’s attorney to respond with a statement on social media.
Tony Buzbee, the alleged victim’s attorney, said in a lengthy social media post that he and his client tried to handle things privately.
“We feel compelled to release this statement based on the innumerable press inquiries we’ve received,” Buzbee wrote. “We reached out to attorney Rusty Hardin’s office for ten months in an attempt to resolve this case. We knew this case was the most serious and egregious case brought against Watson to date and our client, who is rightly traumatized by these events, wanted to attempt a private resolution. We thought that was the best approach given the media storm that occurred surrounding the legion of other clients. Unfortunately, Watson’s team or maybe his lawyers couldn’t or wouldn’t give this case the attention it was due. Mr. Hardin now has tried to contact us since we filed suit. Unfortunately, we see that now as too little too late. But, we are officers of the court, and we will give Mr. Hardin and his team the respect he has earned and will work with him to progress this case in an efficient manner.
“With regard to whether Deshaun Watson ‘knows who this woman is,’ I hope that’s his defense. He is well aware of what he did. This case is strong and now that we have filed we will pursue it with vigor. We have heard from the NFL. We will respond in due course. Finally, you should know that, although I wasn’t aware of her claims, Mr. Watson was well aware of this victim and her claims immediately after it occurred and Watson was again reminded back when he filed the first lawsuit for the other multiple victims. (I wasn’t part of that.) I can understand, given the number of women that Mr. Watson has interacted with, that he could forget some or many of them. However, given the nature of this alleged conduct in this case, I expect this incident is something he wouldn’t soon forget. We look forward to a trial by jury.”
The NFL said on Tuesday that they are reviewing the case against Watson for Personal Conduct Policy violations. Watson was suspended for 11 games in 2022 after facing more than 20 lawsuits from women making similar allegations.
Hardin represented Watson in those cases, and Buzbee represented most of the women.