Deshaun Watson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, filed a motion Thursday for an emergency hearing, asking a judge to rule that lawyer Tony Buzbee has to identify one of the women who filed a lawsuit under the pseudonym of Jane Doe.
That motion was granted by the Harris County District Court, with the hearing scheduled for Friday at noon ET. Hardin plans to submit the same filing Thursday for each of the plaintiffs.
Of the 22 civil lawsuits filed against Watson alleging inappropriate behavior and sexual assault, only two women have been publicly identified. The motion filed Thursday pertains to lawsuit 2021-15937, which was filed March 18. Because these lawsuits were filed individually, Hardin would need to file a motion for each one.
Watson has denied the allegations in the lawsuits.
“When we asked Mr. Buzbee to identify his clients weeks ago, he refused and told us to file a motion,” Hardin said in a statement. “Today we filed that motion. As discussed in our filing, Mr. Buzbee’s use of anonymous lawsuits violates Texas law and the basic concept of fairness.
In the motion, Hardin writes that “because Plaintiff’s counsel filed the actions anonymously, Mr. Watson’s counsel can only speculate about Plaintiff’s identity.”
