Lawsuit filed against Houston Texans alleges team 'enabled' Deshaun Watson's behavior

The Houston Texans were formally named as defendants Monday in the ongoing civil case involving their beleaguered former quarterback, Deshaun Watson.

«Today we filed the first case of what will likely be many against the Houston Texans related to Deshaun Watson's behavior. Suffice it to say, the overwhelming evidence collected indicating that the Houston Texans enabled Watson's behavior is incredibly damning,» said Tony Buzbee, the Houston attorney, who, at one time represented twenty five different women with lawsuits against Watson.

«We believe the Texans knew or most certainly should have known of Watson's conduct. Beyond that, we believe the filing speaks for itself,» Buzbee said.

Monday's lawsuit provides the most detailed account yet of what, if any, prior knowledge people within the Texans organization had of Watson's behavior.

In November 2020, the lawsuit states, Watson used Instagram to meet and arrange a massage with the plaintiff, even though she was only a massage therapy student at the time and Watson could have arranged a massage with a more experienced therapist through the Texans. Watson ultimately met the woman at her mother's home, in Manvel, Texas, brought his own small towel to the massage and, according to the lawsuit, proceeded to expose himself and sexually assault her.

The lawsuit describes Watson's behavior as being part of a «disturbing, predatory, and incriminating pattern with a multitude of female victims.»

Watson has maintained that he is innocent of the numerous allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct during massage sessions that have been made against him. Two grand juries in Texas declined to pursue criminal charges against Watson earlier this year.

Last week, Buzbee said 20 of the