Deshaun Watson Settles Most Recent Suit Accusing Him of Sexual Assault

Deshaun Watson has settled a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and battery a month after it was filed. 

Attorneys for both sides confirmed the lawsuit has been settled out of court. 

“The case is settled,” said Tony Buzbee, the plaintiff’s attorney. “The terms are confidential. We will be filing documents to dismiss the case from the court file soon.”

The lawsuit, filed in Texas by an anonymous woman, accused Watson of sexual assault, battery, and emotional distress in 2020. 

The suit claimed Watson berated the woman on the phone, came to her apartment, and eventually “roughly sexually assaulted Jane Doe for several minutes” before the woman wielded a “heavy piece of décor” at Watson to get him to leave.

 A few days after it was filed, Watson called the lawsuit a “surprise” to him. 

Buzbee, who has represented the women in the majority of lawsuits against Watson in recent years, said in September that the woman and two additional witnesses planned to speak with the NFL. The league was reviewing the complaint against Watson, but it did not place him on the commissioner’s exempt list as it waited to interview the woman. 

It’s now unlikely she’ll cooperate with a league investigation after settling. Buzbee did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The NFL declined to comment.

Watson was suspended 11 games in 2022 after he was accused of sexual assault and abuse by dozens of massage therapists. Prosecutors ultimately declined to file criminal charges against him. In the summer of 2022, Watson settled lawsuits against him with 23 women. Two similar cases, both filed in 2022, are still working their way through the legal system.

All told, Watson has been sued at least 27 times, settling 25 of those cases.

Before being reinstated by the NFL, Watson had to pay a $5 million fine and undergo behavioral evaluations by experts. 

The Browns traded a bounty for Watson in 2022 and gave him a then NFL record $230 million guaranteed contract. Since then, Watson is just 9–8 in 17 starts for the franchise over three years.