Texans preemptively settle with 30 women

[bruceleeroy]

The idiot Browns fans think that Watson/Texans settling mean Watson isn't getting suspended.  The NFL has got to suspend him for at least 8-10 games and in my opinion it should be the entire year.

[Actionman0z]

20 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Yikes

Per other reports, to date only one of the woman had actually sued the Texans. The team chose to go ahead and settle with all of those who still could.

Florio mentions that there are four lawsuits outstanding against Deshaun Watson but the total number of settlements indicates at least six more are possible.

And let me just say again, thank God this mess no longer has anything to do with the Panthers.

Everything I’ve read is money grubbin hoes. 

[Carl Spackler]

The McNairs are terrible owners. But they're still better than Tepper.

[PantherPhann89]

I don't care! Watson isn't a Panther and didn't want to be. And honestly, he had too much baggage for where we are as a team right now. 

[kungfoodude]

21 hours ago, stbugs said:

 

 

Sorry, but I disagree with you guys on this. I think the Texans just want their name out of the picture and are willing to pay a little to do it. The chances of success suing the Texans was much smaller than Watson. Watson did it, not the Texans. I think they probably threw out a $50k or so deal just to make their brand clean again. Let Cleveland be linked with Watson. Considering the revenue sharing and the fact that NFL teams are now $4B companies, throwing out a million or two is chump change and the lawyers would jump on the free cash knowing they might not get anything from the Texans.

Yeah. They wanted to get ahead of the narrative before it turned on them. 

I am sure they share some small part if the allegations are true, so they decided to make the wise business and get ahead of that.

[MHS831]

The Texans were complicit, and that is the only reason they would pay.  Since there are pending court cases and that could come out, the eventual lawsuits would be more expensive AND the damage to the Texans brand would be immeasurably unpredictable.

[Mr. Scot]

2 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

Yeah. They wanted to get ahead of the narrative before it turned on them. 

I am sure they share some small part if the allegations are true, so they decided to make the wise business and get ahead of that.

Florio pointed out and if it came to trial, Watson could be asked to testify under oath about things like whether or not the Texans supplied him with a non-disclosure agreement to give to the women in question or directed him to certain establishments / business people.

Pretty sure they didn't want that happening. Hence, the settlements...

[MHS831]

4 hours ago, Actionman0z said:

Everything I’ve read is money grubbin hoes. 

Congrats on your reading skills.  NEXT:  Interpretation skills.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, MHS831 said:

Congrats on your reading skills.  NEXT:  Interpretation skills.

Between the Times article, the settlements and all the other stuff that's come out, if you still believe this is some massive conspiracy against Watson you've gotta be either a delusional Browns fan or an absolute moron.

[top dawg]

12 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Florio pointed out and if it came to trial, Watson could be asked to testify under oath about things like whether or not the Texans supplied him with a non-disclosure agreement to give to the women in question or directed him to certain establishments / business people.

Pretty sure they didn't want that happening. Hence, the settlements...

But it would seem that details of their complicity may possibly come out anyway from the women who refuse to settle the civil cases (or  in any criminal matter that may pop up from some unknown). It sounds like to me that they're just trying to cover their asses so that when/if any details come out they won't be financially liable to the women who've settled.

[SmokinwithWilly]

2 hours ago, MHS831 said:

The Texans were complicit, and that is the only reason they would pay.  Since there are pending court cases and that could come out, the eventual lawsuits would be more expensive AND the damage to the Texans brand would be immeasurably unpredictable.

It's not the only reason. Lawsuits are expensive. Even a minor fraudulent lawsuit can cost the regular person 25k easily. This isn't minor, which means high priced lawyers, thousands of billable hours to deal with all the paperwork, and that's before stepping foot in a courtroom. I'm not saying they did or didn't do anything, but in today's society, where facts mean less than social perception, settling could have just been a cheaper option for the same public opinion. 

[1of10Charnatives]

On 7/15/2022 at 2:37 PM, Captroop said:

The lawyer's aren't settling these cases for $50k. What's that, $20,000 per case for hundreds of hours of work? Not a chance. Each settlement is easily in the low-to-mid 6 figures.

I think they're guilty, or at least complicit, and this move is a two-fold win for them; they get to silence the accusers behind an NDA before the details can come out, and on top of that they get to control the narrative and have the last word. We will never hear the accusers' side of the story, and the Texans can claim these settlements were some sort of altruistic gesture because they #believewomen. No one will ever be able to refute them. That's a massive PR victory for the Texans.

I have a hard time believing lawyers put hundreds of hours of work into lawsuits that haven't even been filed yet. The hundreds of hours of work tend to come from filing motions, filing the suit itself, interviewing witnesses, prepping for depositions etc. Although some meaningful time is spent laying the groundwork before a suit is filed, it is mostly limited to determining whether your client actually has a meaningful case that you'd invest time in. No lawyer spends hundreds of hours on just that part of the process. If they do they go broke fast.

Beyond that, I assert nothing, but let's not go making dubious assertions as the basis for claiming the settlements have to be bigger than x. They may indeed be, but I'm not buying that particular line of argument as sound.

[45catfan]

Didn't someone in the Texans organization book some of these women for Watson's massage sessions?  If so, they were enabling his behavior.  To the extent the organization knew how he conducting himself during these massages is the part they probably didn't want out in public.  If, and this is a big IF, Watson had these scheduled for him and he was expecting certain things, then the Texans were definitely culpable...even if it was just a few people in the organization that knew.

[MechaZain]

On 7/15/2022 at 2:37 PM, Captroop said:

The lawyer's aren't settling these cases for $50k. What's that, $20,000 per case for hundreds of hours of work? Not a chance. Each settlement is easily in the low-to-mid 6 figures.

I think they're guilty, or at least complicit, and this move is a two-fold win for them; they get to silence the accusers behind an NDA before the details can come out, and on top of that they get to control the narrative and have the last word. We will never hear the accusers' side of the story, and the Texans can claim these settlements were some sort of altruistic gesture because they #believewomen. No one will ever be able to refute them. That's a massive PR victory for the Texans.

Think you both are right on this one. The Texans just want it over with and they risk a bigger fallout the longer it goes on.