Buzbee has done an effective job of flooding the zone with anonymous, nasty, and disturbing allegations, but this still does not smell right.
1. The timing is suspicious. No need to back through all that, but a cynic could see this case as a contract dispute gone very badly awry. Maybe if Watson had been willing to waive his no-trade clause, none of this would be happening.
2. What did the Texans know, and when did they know it, for real?
We have their claim that they knew in late January. So far that is merely a claim. We are to asked to believe that this team -- one alleged to have its players under off-field surveillance -- was unaware that their superstar QB was some kind of serial rapist? That is some inept private dickin' if true.
3. The whole Buzbee angle. We are to believe he is handling this case pro bono? If not, who is paying him? Not saying Busbee is in McNair's employ here. But if there are under the table payments to either Busbee or his clients, it's a cinch that Hardin's investigators will track it down.
4. The alleged victims. We are to believe that all of these women are willing to go through the gauntlet of a civil suit revolving around sexual assault at the hands of a very wealthy young man for a max judgment of $500? In a perfect world, I'd like to believe that such a search for justice for its own sake would prevail, but this is a mean ol' world full of sorrow, not a perfect one. It would seem to me that if these women were so intent on punishing DeShaun Watson that they would all agree to almost no money in return for their testimony, they would go to the cops, not a trial lawyer dangling a max award of $500.
5. Busbee has been highly erratic these last five years. (Post-divorce. A story older than toupees, fake tit-tays, and Corvettes.) There was the tank. The hoochie mama tumping red wine on his Warhols and smashing his sculptures. Burglars -- not ace Euro art thieves with names like Szandor the Jackal and Francois the Weasel -- but just plain ol' housebreakers from around the way managed to break in to his mansion and swipe $21m in art and watches. He was visibly and highly intoxicated during his stump speech when launching the runoff in his mayoral campaign. He broke with the Democratic party (just 15 years ago, he was Democratic chair for Galveston County) to jump on the Trump Train. Post-"grab 'em by the pussy," Busbee publicly stated he was done with Trump forever. Which meant...until he gets inaugurated, a shitty party to which Busbee donated $500k. And then two years ago he was a "White Pantsuit" level donor to a Hillary Clinton luncheon in Houston.
Right now, he is posting these weird little speeches on Instagram with each new suit when he's not blatantly lying to the public about facts somewhat relevant to these cases: that he is not a sports fan (what about the Johnny Football billboards, Tony?) and that HPD came to him asking for case details, presumably implying that criminal cases would be forthcoming. Per HPD, not only did they not approach him, but that they have had no contact with him whatsoever. And when not telling this stupid lies, he is posing for Secret Agent Man shots on the tarmac at Hobby.
6. There is the fact that he and the McNairs are neighbors.
7. That the Houston Texans are looming in the background of all this. It is the most ineptly run franchise across all three major sports not just now, but over the course of my entire life. I've been at least somewhat aware of how sports franchises are businesses with owners and corporate cultures and so on for 35 years now, and this iteration of the Houston Texans is the most insane bunch of them all. Steinbrenner, Marge Schott, Donald Sterling, Jerry Richardson, Paul Brown....At least most of those teams won (or made it to) championships from time to time. This Easterby shit is just whole other levels of crazy.
8. Cal McNair had a front row seat for his daddy's Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign.
9. Cal McNair is dumb enough to believe that Tony Busbee, an ambulance chaser whose career was greatly enhanced by judgments won in one of the most corrupt federal courtrooms in 20th Century America (that of the now ex-convict Samuel Kent), is the best lawyer for a case like this. I have to wonder if other top Houston lawyers declined to take the case.
10. Supposedly Busbee's assistant Cornelia Brandfield-Harvey is the point person for rounding up these plaintiffs -- before signing on with Buzbee she worked for the Harris County Attorney's office.
This is from her bio:
Before joining The Buzbee Law Firm, Cornelia worked as an Assistant County Attorney with the Harris County Attorney's Office in the Litigation Practice Group, aggressively going after high profile strip clubs and illegal massage parlors for prostitution and human trafficking. While at the HCAO, Cornelia was involved in developing the nation's first Human Trafficking Injunction in conjunction with the Mayor's office, which was rolled out in August 2018 to combat rampant prostitution in the Houston area.
I've been told she has been of great service to Busbee in the area of his growing a conscience about exploited women.
11. Not saying that DeShaun Watson is entirely innocent, either. Which gets back to point 2 -- what did the Texans know and when did they know it? If they've known about it for a few years, and are only releasing this info now that he is no value to them...whoo boy.
12. I think what we have here is an overrated and erratic lawyer out over his skis, a football star whose squeaky-clean image was a lie, and in the background, kind of looming over all of this, a pro football team (with something of a reputation for racism around the league) run by people who are crazy, stupid, and mean, in addition to deranged and sanctimonious.