LA Clippers star participant James Harden has been accused of negligence in a lawsuit that claims a lady was raped by his nephew whereas she was unconscious after a New 12 months’s Eve get together at his Texas home final yr.
Harden’s nephew, Justice Armani Blackburn, is accused of sexual assault towards Marisa Watley, 40, in a civil grievance filed in Texas on Monday by legislation agency Wigdor and co-counsel Ellwanger Henderson.
The lawsuit alleges that safety guards employed by Harden may have prevented the alleged rape and that he’s “vicariously chargeable for the actions of his guards and their company employer.” It names Harden, Blackburn, and an unknown variety of unidentified safety guards as defendants, listed as “safety guards 1-10,” and their unidentified employer.
Watley is looking for greater than $100,000 in damages and desires a jury trial.
Representatives for each Harden and Blackburn had been contacted for remark. Neither has responded publicly to the allegations.
“Plaintiff Marisa Watley was brutally raped by Defendant Justice Armani Blackburn following a New Years Eve get together at Defendant James Harden’s mansion house,” the grievance says.
Based on the lawsuit, filed within the Harris County District Clerk District, Watley’s buddies had allegedly instructed the safety staff that she gave the impression to be lacking in the home and that the guards had been conscious that girls had been handed out from intoxication all through the home.
“Nonetheless, Mr. Harden’s safety staff recklessly failed to guard Ms. Watley on Mr. Harden’s property — and the outcome was a sexual assault from which she is going to undergo indefinitely,” the lawsuit says.
Watley, an actual property agent, stated in a assertion: “Since New 12 months’s Day, after I reported the rape by Mr. Blackburn to the police, I’ve remained puzzled by how Mr. Harden’s safety behaved that day — it’s painful to think about that this all may have been stopped in time. I hope this grievance pushes safety workers typically to behave extra responsibly when ladies are in peril.”
The grievance says she now speaks with a heavy stutter as a result of “extreme trauma” of the alleged rape.
The lawsuit says that Watley and two buddies met at a restaurant on New 12 months’s Eve earlier than going to a celebration at a close-by membership. At about 3:30 a.m., they allegedly noticed Harden in a VIP space and discovered of a celebration at his home.
The three ladies took an Uber to his home — the grievance says Watley thought they had been going to a good friend’s house — the place an armed safety guard checked their IDs and instructed them to go to the recording studio inside, the lawsuit says.
There, the lawsuit says, Blackburn gave all three ladies a drink that induced them to move out. The lawsuit says that Watley’s reminiscence from this level “turns into extraordinarily hazy” as she light out and in of consciousness.
“The following factor Ms. Watley recollects is being shocked into consciousness whereas mendacity face down on a mattress with a person behind her having aggressive intercourse along with her,” the lawsuit says.
Watley alleges that after this, a safety guard instructed her to go away. The lawsuit says her two buddies had already been instructed to go away and had been locked out regardless of telling safety guards that their good friend and a few possessions had been nonetheless inside.
The lawsuit says they had been allegedly instructed no ladies had been in the home, however the buddies quickly noticed extra ladies leaving.
Watley’s two buddies had her iPhone and had been in a position to contact her sister via her emergency contacts at 10:44 a.m., who then known as the police. The lawsuit alleges that it wasn’t till after 1:29 p.m. that Watley emerged.
Her attorneys, Michael J. Willemin and John S. Crain from Wigdor, and Jay Ellwanger and Kaylyn Betts of Ellwanger Henderson, stated in a joint assertion that Watley confirmed “nice energy and braveness” in reporting the allegations.
“This rape was instantly reported to the police, and we are going to convey Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Harden to justice via the civil justice system,” they stated.
