What does the Antonio Brown settlement mean to Deshaun Watson?

About twenty months ago, when Britney Taylor filed a federal lawsuit against Antonio Brown, the first questions that moved beyond guilt or innocence were typical of the NFL’s “what-does-it-mean?” mathematics.

Something like:

What happens if there is no settlement?

Will Commissioner Roger Goodell Brown be suspended?

Will Taylor talk to league investigators?

And finally, the conclusion some NFL teams really wanted to know:

How long will it hang over Brown’s career?

The answers all came on time and could provide an instructive backdrop for the future of Deshaun Watson, quarterback Houston Texans, who is the target of 22 civil lawsuits alleging a series of sexual misconduct. Watson makes the Texans and other teams ponder the same questions about his pending lawsuit. It is an opaque crossroads that has no visible end in sight, which excludes the fat settlement mediation (which remains an option), or an unparalleled rapid detection of 22 individual lawsuits (which is highly unlikely, or not entirely impossible) .

TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 07: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Wide Receiver Antonio Brown (81) enters the stadium and shows a loose gesture to the fans during Super Bowl LV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on February 7, 2021, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL.  (Photo by Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Antonio Brown, who appeared in the photo hours before Super Bowl LV, reached a settlement with a former coach who accused him of sexual assault in a lawsuit. (Photo by Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Antonio Brown’s early fighting attitude reflects Deshaun Watson’s

Although the situations of Watson and Brown are different, it is important to note now that their civil lawsuit began in a remarkable place: each player denies the allegations against them and both’s representations defend the players through the picture of a woman to paint. (or multiple women) use civil litigation to obtain a settlement. And in both situations, the players denied the claims against them, insisting that there would be no settlement.

For Brown, the settlement finally took place, but only after nearly 20 months of litigation and near the threshold of a jury trial that was expected to take place in the next few months.

For Watson, his legal representative says what Brown’s lawyer said in the fall of 2019: there will be no settlements and the player intends to fight the allegations in court to regain his reputation.

The willingness to fight against the onset of civil litigation is the attitude that will ultimately set the table for Watson’s future. Brown initially discussed a settlement with Taylor, his former coach, in the summer of 2019. The talks broke down and it moved on to the next legal phase of a civil case, which is a way lawyers often use to create additional pressure for a settlement. resolution. In Brown’s case, he eventually settled down despite his fight against the lawsuit, although it is unclear whether his unknown resolution was more or less expensive than it could have been in the summer of 2019. Given the amount of money Brown lost in endorsements and also a significant impact on his NFL earnings (losses still being realized), it is likely that the financial toll was much higher than the settlement initially with Taylor almost two years ago discussed.

Is it better to settle or go to court?

From the point of view of representation, it is part of the cold and calculated mathematical mathematics that comes into play when someone like Brown or Watson faces civil litigation. There is consideration of the monetary cost of fighting the allegations in court. There is also the consideration of not to fight the allegations and what it will mean for a player’s reputation if they correct rather than seek justice in the court system. Simply put: is it wiser to mediate a settlement rather than face the financial implications of a protracted legal battle?

At the moment, Watson’s position has been unequivocally dropped by his lawyer, Rusty Hardin. Not only did Watson declare his innocence through his lawyer, but his representation unequivocally declared the position that all 22 women who had filed civil cases were lying. It’s an attitude that suggests (and even is asked in Hardin’s most recent lawsuit) that Watson wants his day in court and before a jury.

Brown also took the trail. And 20 months later, it ends with a settlement before his jury trial comes to fruition.

Watson’s civil lawsuits could take years

For all NFL teams and Watson, the implications are clear. It’s going to be a long road ahead. Probably many years, depending on the number of civil cases that continue. It also means Watson can fight it to the brink of a jury trial and then decide that a settlement is a more palatable option. Or he can subject the jury hearings to the other if the multitude of civil cases never come together as one class action that is not planned at the moment.

Excluding some sort of unforeseen events that lead to all the cases being dismissed in the coming months, it’s likely that Watson will eventually continue his NFL career under civil litigation or not. That’s exactly what Brown finally did in 2020 and played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while his legal representative wrestled with Taylor’s lawyers and moved on to a trial. How it all played out for Brown is worth studying, because there are some of the same obstacles Watson faces. And it begins with the full picture of Brown’s timeline, as set forth in Taylor’s lawsuit, which alleges that the broad sexually assaulted her.

Taylor filed her case in September 2019. It was the first event that presented the stage for Brown’s eventual release from the New England Patriots later this month. From there, Brown got into a limbo in the NFL while being a free agent while under a league investigation. A portion of the limbo was created by the league itself, which seems to suggest that if Brown were to be signed by a team during the rest of the 2019 season, he would be subject to the commissioner’s released list – which is basically a paid suspension. – while league investigators completed their investigation. The NFL investigation eventually lasted ten months and resulted in an eight-game suspension for unspecified violations of personal behavior policy.

Brown spent essentially the entire 2019 season out of football and was subsequently suspended for half of the season in 2020, all of which took place when he continued to fight Taylor’s civil lawsuit.

The players’ situations are not the same, but some of the complications may be for Watson. First, there is the lingering cloud of civil litigation hanging overhead, and it is likely to make ongoing headlines. Second, there is the discovery process and then public jury trials that will expose Watson to further media and legal scrutiny. All of this will have an impact on how NFL teams and underwriters view him financially. And lastly, there will be the league’s opaque investigation process, which is completely open in terms of a timeline.

These agreements answer some questions about Watson that reflect what was asked about Brown. If there is no settlement, it will lead to a lengthy legal process. During this time, Goodell, as he did with Brown, was able to suspend Watson for a period of matches in the lingering civil lawsuit. And at any time during this period, one or more crowds of women who make Watson allegations can talk to NFL investigators, as Taylor did during the league’s investigation into Brown.

This brings it all back to the question that teams chewed and will consume every day with Deshaun Watson: Regardless of his guilt or innocence, if a legal decision is not reached for Watson in the next few months, this legal process will take years hangs over his career. And like Brown, there will always be the open possibility that it will end just where it initially started – with the quarterback paying years of legal bills and incurring insignificant costs for his earnings, only to sign a settlement that he says lawyers were not. is going to happen.

More from Yahoo Sports:

Source