James Harden Sued for Negligence in Sexual Assault Case

Los Angeles Clippers star James Harden has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging rape at the NBA player’s home.

Marisa Watley, a real estate agent from Houston, filed a suit Monday in Harris County court that claims Harden’s nephew Justice Blackburn raped her at the player’s 2025 New Year’s Eve party. The filing also claims Harden’s security failed to protect Watley and other women who were at the party at his Texas home. Harden, who is not alleged in the complaint to have committed assault, played for the Houston Rockets from 2012 to 2021.

The suit claims Watley, 40, and two friends were invited at a club to an afterparty at Harden’s home, where they met Blackburn. He offered them a bottle of liquor, after which Watley’s memory is “extremely hazy,” the complaint says. Watley was “shocked into consciousness” when she felt a man having “aggressive sex” with her, the filing says. Afterward, security kicked her out of the mansion even though she told them she couldn’t find her phone, according to the complaint, and when her friends did arrive with it, she had missed calls from Blackburn, who the suit says was 27 at the time of the party.

Based on the timeline of events, the complaint says, the alleged rape occurred after family and friends had tried to locate Watley, meaning “security could have prevented” the assault.

The complaint says Watley’s two friends also passed out after drinking from Blackburn’s bottle, and when they woke up, security made them leave, too. The guards told them “there were no more women in the house” even though they knew Watley and other women were still inside, the filing says. Watley’s sister, through entertainment industry connections, got in touch with Blackburn’s mother, who then connected her with the guards; when provided a photo of Watley, the guards denied that she was the woman in Blackburn’s room, the complaint says. The guards later confirmed it was Watley after her sister threatened to call the police, according to the lawsuit.

“Since New Year’s Day, when I reported the rape by Mr. Blackburn to the police, I have remained puzzled by how Mr. Harden’s security behaved that day—it is painful to imagine that this all could have been stopped in time,” Watley said in a statement provided to Front Office Sports.

Harden’s involvement in the events of the evening is limited. He is mentioned in the complaint as having been in the club where the women were first invited to the party, at his home, and driving away as women filed out the next day. But the filing says he is “vicariously liable for the actions of his guards and their corporate employer.”

Blackburn, Harden, the unidentified guards, and their unidentified employer are listed as defendants. The suit claims sexual assault against Blackburn, and negligence against Harden and security over the safety of women in the house and preventing Watley’s rescue. She is seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

“Ms. Watley has shown great strength and courage in coming forward to hold Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Harden accountable for what happened to her on New Year’s Day 2025 in Mr. Harden’s mansion,” Watley’s legal team said in a statement to FOS. “This rape was immediately reported to the police, and we will bring Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Harden to justice through the civil justice system.”

Representatives for Harden and the Clippers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.