HOUSTON – Deshaun Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, on Thursday filed a motion for an emergency hearing asking the judge to rule that attorney Tony Buzbee should identify one of the women who filed a lawsuit under the pseudonym Jane Doe. has.
The proposal was granted by the Harris District Court, with the hearing set to take place at 12 noon ET on Friday. Hardin plans to file the same filing Thursday for each of the plaintiffs.
Of the 22 civil lawsuits against Watson over inappropriate behavior and sexual assault, only two women have been publicly identified. The motion filed on Thursday relates to lawsuit 2021-15937, which was filed on March 18th. Because these lawsuits were filed separately, Hardin will have to file a motion for each of the lawsuits.
Watson denied the allegations in the lawsuits.
“When we asked Mr. Buzbee weeks ago to identify his clients, he refused and told us to file a motion,” Hardin said in a statement. “Today we have filed the motion. As discussed in our submission, Mr. Buzbee’s use of anonymous lawsuits is contrary to Texas law and the basic concept of fairness.
“Although I understand that anonymity is often used as a shield for victims, Mr. Buzbee uses it as a sword. While Mr. Buzbee protects his clients from public investigations, he still uses their anonymous allegations to Mr. Watson. “We are simply not right. And we look forward to resolving these issues in court.”
In the motion, Hardin writes that “because the plaintiff’s counsel filed the actions anonymously, Mr. Watson’s counsel can only speculate about the plaintiff’s identity.”
“Mr. Watson’s attorney cannot respond in good conscience to the specific allegations made because any response would be based on dangerous speculations about the identities of the accused,” Hardin said in the motion. ‘It’s easy to imagine what damage it would cause if Ms Doe were misidentified.
“The only way to allow Mr Watson to defend himself properly is for the court to follow the law by requiring Ms. Doe to identify herself in her civil case.”
The motion for the emergency hearing is because Watson’s response to the lawsuit must appear on April 19, and ‘due to the plaintiff’s attorney’s repeated refusal to give the real name of Mrs. To identify doe, mr. Watson’s attorney does not fully evaluate or plead his defense to her claims. ‘
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy called the allegations against Watson “deeply disturbing” in a statement on Tuesday, pointing out that we take these issues “very seriously”.
McCarthy said the league launched an investigation last month into its policy on personal conduct after initial allegations and that the NFL “continues to closely monitor all developments in the case.”