In 2022, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson gave sworn deposition in multiple civil lawsuits pending against him for sexual assault during massage therapy sessions. Most of those cases have since been settled.
In October, a new lawsuit was filed by a lawyer other than the lawyer who had filed 20-plus civil complaints against Watson. Today, a judge ruled that Watson must give deposition testimony within the next 90 days.
It’s ordinary and usual for the defendant in a civil lawsuit to be questioned under oath, during the pre-trial process known as discovery. In this case, Watson’s attorney wanted to delay the deposition until the court ruled on whether the entire case should be thrown out as a sham.
Via Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today, the presiding judge decided not to prevent the deposition from happening, notwithstanding any efforts by Watson’s counsel to attack the legitimacy of the lawsuit.
That’s no surprise. The bar for throwing out a case before the plaintiff has a fair chance to gather evidence to prove the case is very high. The arguments advanced by attorney Rusty Hardin go to the credibility of the plaintiff’s story, not whether her allegations, if true, state a legal claim on which relief can be eventually granted in court.
And so the plaintiff should get a chance to prove her case. Watson will get a chance to prove his case, snd on it goes.