Houston Texans to be added as defendants in Deshaun Watson lawsuits

June 8 (UPI) -- Tony Buzbee, the attorney representing each of the 24 women who have filed civil lawsuits against Deshaun Watson, said his law firm will soon be adding the Houston Texans as defendants in some of the suits against the Pro Bowl quarterback.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that a non-disclosure agreement Watson gave to some of the plaintiffs to sign came from Brent Naccara, the Texans' director of security. The Times also said the Texans provided a hotel room at The Houstonian, where several of the massages allegedly took place.

"What has become clear is that the Houston Texans organization and their contracting 'massage therapy company' facilitated Deshaun Watson's conduct," Buzbee said in a statement Wednesday. "In many of these cases, the Texans provided the opportunity for this conduct to occur.

"We believe the Texans organization was well aware of Watson's issues, but failed to act. They knew or certainly should have known. We intend to make sure all involved in Watson's conduct are held accountable, in addition to and including Watson himself."

The Texans previously said in multiple statements that the organization was unaware of Watson's alleged actions until March 2021, when the first lawsuit was filed against him.

There were 23 lawsuits filed against Watson from March 16 to April 14, 2021. One of those was dropped after a judge ruled each petition had to be amended to include each plaintiff's name.

Last week, two more suits were filed against Watson, bringing the total number to 24 active civil lawsuits.

Though two Texas grand juries declined to pursue criminal charges against Watson earlier this year, the NFL is investigating whether he violated the league's code of conduct. Watson has denied all wrongdoing.

The Texans traded Watson to the Cleveland Browns in March after the first grand jury in Texas announced it wouldn't indict Watson on criminal charges.