Tony Buzbee Reaches Confidential Settlements for 24 Women Who Sued Deshaun Watson for Sexual Misconduct

Beginning on March 16, 2021, Tony Buzbee filed civil suits in Harris County state court on behalf of women who alleged that Deshaun Watson, then the Houston Texans' franchise quarterback, had sexually assaulted or acted inappropriately toward them during one-on-one massage sessions arranged through social media. The plaintiffs -- a group that would grow to 24 active claimants across 25 total filings -- described a pattern of unwanted sexual contact and coercion. One early case was dismissed after the plaintiff declined to amend her petition to include her full name.

The allegations covered sessions that had taken place at hotels and residences in the Houston area. Buzbee argued that each session followed a recognizable pattern: Watson, who was among the highest-paid players in NFL history at the time, leveraged the private setting and his celebrity to pressure the women. The suits named Watson individually and, in some filings, sought to examine the role of the Houston Texans organization in facilitating or ignoring the conduct.

Two Texas grand juries reviewed the evidence and declined to issue criminal indictments, meaning Watson faced no criminal charges. The civil cases moved forward independently. The NFL also opened its own conduct investigation under league policy.

On June 21, 2022, Buzbee announced that 20 of the 24 civil cases had reached confidential settlements. He confirmed the terms and amounts were not being disclosed publicly. Four plaintiffs, including Ashley Solis -- the first woman to file and the first to publicly identify herself -- had not settled at that point, and Buzbee indicated their cases could proceed to trial.

In early August 2022, Buzbee told ESPN that three of those four remaining cases had also settled, including Solis's, leaving 23 of the 24 resolved and just one case still active. Watson, who had been traded to the Cleveland Browns in March 2022, received an 11-game suspension and a $5 million fine from the NFL following a disciplinary process that ran parallel to the civil litigation. The financial terms of the individual settlements were never made public.