Looks like another woman has filed a lawsuit against Deshaun Watson, which has now become his 23rd civil case to accuse the Cleveland Browns quarterback of sexual misconduct during massage parlor sessions.
According to a new filing by attorney Tony Buzbee, his client Nia Smith, who is a professionally licensed Houston cosmetologist alleges that Watson contacted her for a professional massage through social media. The suit states that she had three sessions with Watson and saw his personality allegedly become more aggressive with each meeting ending in sexual advances and unwanted sexual contact.
RELATED:FBI Investigating NFL’S Deshaun Watson For Alleged Sexual Misconduct
It goes on to claim that Watson’s defense team contacted Smith for a meeting when women started filing civil suits against the quarterback back in March of 2021 — a proposal that Smith took as an attempt to influence her from pursuing action against Watson. In that allegation, Smith accused one of Watson’s attorneys of indicating that “us black women must stick together.”
In a statement Tuesday, Buzbee added: “Other cases may come. The Watson defense team has vilified these women and this cause. Shame on them! We look forward to trying this case in court.”
Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, responded with a direct statement, once again phrasing the aftermath as an attempt to attain “publicity” for Buzbee and a “payday” for his clients.
“Deshaun Watson vehemently denies the allegations, just as he has since she first discussed them with members of our firm in March of last year,” Hardin said. “She repeated the allegations on social media in August and he denied them then. The only thing new about her contentions is the embellishment making them more extreme than prior versions. Deshaun’s denial remains the same.
“The two highly respected lawyers from our firm, Letitia Quinones and Rachel Lewis, also vehemently deny there was any coercion or intimidation involved in the very cordial meeting at Vic and Anthony’s (Mr. Buzbee and the plaintiff are not even right about where the meeting was, much less what was said). They met her to see if she was one of Mr. Buzbee’s then still anonymous plaintiffs. At that time Mr. Buzbee refused to identify his clients. The suggestion that either of these two accomplished lawyers would have said ‘us black women must stick together’ is absurd. The interview was so congenial, she joined the lawyers for dinner afterwards.
RELATED:Deshaun Watson’s Girlfriend Is Still Riding With The QB Amid 22+ Sexual Assault Accusations
“We are aware that more than a year ago she had other lawyers representing her and they ultimately terminated the representation. This plaintiff has long had a vendetta against Deshaun since she jealously and angrily published Deshaun’s personal data on social media in November 2020. In filing her lawsuit now she was obviously not influenced by recent developments. We are not surprised Mr. Buzbee was willing to say just about anything to get more publicity. He knows the NFL continues to investigate these cases, and this is a transparent attempt to further punish the man he sees as a potential payday.”