Legal

The women who have accused the Houston Texans of enabling Deshaun Watson's sexual misconduct against them have settled their cases with the NFL team, their lawyer, Tony Buzbee, announced Friday.

The attorney, who's representing the 30 women making the claims, did not disclose financial details of the settlement in his announcement.

"I will have no further comment on the allegations or the Texans' role, other than to say that there is a marked contrast in the way in which the Texans addressed these allegations, and the way in which Watson’s team has done so," Buzbee said.

As we previously reported, Toi Garner -- a female masseuse -- sued the Texans last month ... after she said the football team was partly to blame for the assault she says Watson committed on her during a massage session in Nov. 2020.

In her suit, Garner alleged the Texans turned "a blind eye" to Watson's "egregious behavior," and, in fact, helped enable it.

Buzbee had said at the time of the lawsuit's filing that several more women were planning to file similar suits against the football team.

But, in his announcement Friday, Buzbee said "all of the women who have made, or intended to make, claims against the Houston Texans organization have resolved their claims."

As for the cases against Watson, Buzbee announced in June that all but four of the quarterback's accusers had settled with him. Buzbee said Friday those four unsettled cases are still continuing onward.

"We hope to try them all in the spring of next year," he said. "In the meantime, we will continue to do the important work to prepare for such.”

For his part, Watson -- who was never arrested or charged over the claims -- has denied any wrongdoing.

Brittney Griner, wearing a Nirvana T-shirt, was back in court Friday, where the WNBA star's attorney told the judge BG, who's being tried on a drug charge, was prescribed cannabis for medical use ... the same substance she was caught carrying.

Griner's lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, told the court on Friday, "The attending physician gave Brittney recommendations for the use of medical cannabis."

"The permission was issued on behalf of the Arizona Department of Health," she added.

Blagovolina also submitted tests to the court ... showing 31-year-old Griner underwent testing to ensure she complied with anti-doping regulations, and the results revealed the hooper didn't have any prohibited substances in her system.

Griner appeared in court last week, bringing a photo of her wife, Cherelle, to the proceeding ... where she plead guilty to drug possession.

While addressing the court, Griner told the judge it wasn't her intent to break the law ... she simply packed hastily, and forgot about the cannabis.

Griner faces up to 10 years in prison ... but reps for the Phoenix Mercury star told us they're hopeful her guilty plea will be the beginning of getting Griner freed from Russian custody.

For now, Brittney's detention has been authorized to go through Dec. 20, according to the Associated Press, and although she plead guilty at last week's court hearing, Russia's justice system differs from the United States ... meaning the trial is to go through the beginning of August.

Griner's next hearing is scheduled for July 26.

Prosecutors have hit Duane Brown with a criminal charge stemming from his arrest at LAX last weekend ... and now, the NFL star could be facing up to 1 year behind bars if he's convicted.

We broke the story, the five-time Pro Bowler -- who most recently played for the Seattle Seahawks -- was busted at the airport in L.A. on July 9 after authorities said he tried to go through TSA with a gun in his luggage.

Now, TMZ Sports has learned Brown has been charged by Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, a longtime national leader on gun violence prevention.

According to court documents, Brown was hit with one count of carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to 1 year in jail.

For his part, Brown -- through his attorney -- called the incident "an accident" in a statement to media members earlier this week.

"To err is human, and this clearly was an accident," Brown's attorney, Kennard McGuire, said. "As a law-abiding citizen, Duane will continue to exercise proper judgment and continue education on gun safety measures."

‘Beatbox’ rapper SpotemGottem is officially facing criminal charges now for what cops viewed as his attempt to jet ski his way to freedom in Florida a couple weeks ago.

Florida's State Attorney just charged the 20-year-old rapper with felony attempting to elude a law enforcement officer in a boat, and misdemeanor reckless operation of a vessel.

This marks young Spotem's 2nd high-profile arrest in his short career ... which, so far, is highlighted by the remix of his smash "Beat Box" hit with DaBaby, Pooh Shiesty and NLE Choppa.

In July 2021, he was arrested on gun charges in Florida for allegedly chilling with an AK-47.

Kanye West and his team continued to string a production company along with unfulfilled promises of payment, which eventually swelled up to more than $7 million ... according to the company, which is now suing Ye.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Phantom Labs says they worked on multiple large-scale projects with Kanye between June 2021 to March 2022. Among the ventures were 4 weeks of Sunday Service, a listening event for "Donda 2," the "Free Larry Hoover" show with Drake and his canceled 2022 Coachella performance.

Phantom, repped by attorney Howard King, says at first, Ye and team were good about making payments -- but it wasn't long before bills started to pile up -- and by February 2022, they say they were owed over $6 million.

The docs say Ye had allegedly promised to settle his debt with Phantom, using the reported $9 million he was supposed to make at Coachella, but when he unexpectedly canceled on the festival, Phantom says it became clear, Ye wasn't going to pay.

Phantom says in addition to the $6 million tab Ye already had with the company, they were hit with another $1.1 million in Coachella-related cancelation fees they also want Ye to cover.

TMZ broke the story, Kanye backed out of Coachella less than 2 weeks before the festival kicked off. While the reason behind his cancelation still isn't totally known, he made the decision after a rough few months which saw him lash out against Kim Kardashian.

The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia eventually filled Kanye's headlining spot, and got a ton of praise for an incredible performance.

Iggy Azalea’s social media activity found its way into the crosshairs of infamous Cardi B debtor, Tasha K, and somewhere in the middle … lies Tory Lanez.

Blogger Tasha K -- who owes Cardi B $4M from her defamation suit and isn’t allowed to speak Barti’s name -- went in on Iggy Iggz's personal life as rumors swirl that Tory's dating the Australian-born rapper.

Iggy and Tory were indeed spotted out in public in June with no additional context to their meeting. They could’ve been discussing music for all we know!

The dating rumors were fueled even more Wednesday when Iggy cooked up a batch of oxtail … and Tory went outta his way to let the world know the food was bomb.

Enter Tasha K ... who went live and insinuated Iggy allowed Tory to get fed before her 2-year-old son Onyx, and needs government assistance to pay for child care. Remember, Onyx's dad is Playboi Carti.

Well, Iggy stepped up and threatened to sic her legal team on Tasha K -- a move that could easily put the blogger deeper in the hole if she blows another case.

A judge recently forced Tasha to scrub all her old posts mentioning Cardi, and there's still that $4 mil tab.

Alex Murdaugh — who’s at the center of a double murder scandal in South Carolina — has been charged with murder in connection to the killings of his wife and son.

The disgraced powerhouse attorney was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday, which heard evidence from prosecutors and decided there was enough to charge Murdaugh with two counts of murder ... according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.

Maggie Murdaugh and 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh were found dead at the family’s hunting property last summer after they were shot and killed by what investigators believed were two different weapons. Alex told investigators he discovered them there after the fact, and claimed he had an alibi as to his whereabouts at the time of the murders.

Despite being a person of interest for a while, Murdaugh was never formally charged over their deaths. He was, however, arrested and charged for allegedly trying to stage his own death months later.

Murdaugh survived the ordeal — a gunshot wound to the head that left superficial injuries — but prosecutors claim his intention was to actually die, and have his surviving son collect a $10 million life insurance policy. Instead, he lived … and was subsequently accused of trying to hatch an elaborate scheme.

In addition to those charges, he’s also been hit with dozens of other charges over financial crimes — prosecutors claim he swindled various people out of millions of dollars through his legal practice.

Murdaugh has pled not guilty to all the charges thus far. He’s due in court later this week, and is expected to enter a plea on the new murder charges as well.

Several members of Brittney Griner's Russian basketball team came to her aid at her trial in Moscow on Thursday ... praising her character and leadership skills in testimonies inside of the courtroom.

One week after pleading guilty to drug charges in the foreign country, Griner's trial pressed onward -- and during the proceedings, players and officials from UMMC Ekaterinburg, Griner's former basketball team in Russia, testified in support of the WNBA star.

Team captain Evgeniya Belyakova, according to NPR, told the court Griner was "the heart of our team." She added that fans in Russia "adored" the 31-year-old center.

One of Griner's attorneys added following the hearing that the director of UMMC Ekaterinburg, Maxim Ryabkov, also "gave a positive description of Brittney Griner during his speech in court, noting her outstanding abilities as a player and personal contribution to strengthening the team spirit, which allowed the team to achieve the highest results in the Russian basketball premier league and in international competitions for many years."

Griner showed up at the courtroom in a dark-colored t-shirt and glasses. She did not give a testimony during the proceedings. Her trial is expected to continue on Friday morning.

As we reported, Griner is facing up to 10 years behind bars after she pled guilty to charges that she had hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport back in February.

Here's Joe Gorga booting out a tenant -- the same one he claims hasn't paid rent for 4 years -- and Joe did NOT go easy on the guy during the eviction.

The 'RHONJ' star was recording as he and a sheriff's deputy armed with eviction papers told the Hawthorne, NJ tenant he's gotta beat it. Joe got a warrant to evict the guy after filing court docs alleging he owed nearly $50,000 in back rent.

The eviction went down Tuesday night, and as you can see, the tenant was pretty shocked when Joe and the sheriff came a knocking. There was a woman there with him who started crying.

Joe's rep, Michael Martocci, tells TMZ ... the tenant's father came over to try and tug at Joe's heartstrings, begging him not to go through with the eviction, but Joe told them he had enough.

As we reported, Joe and the tenant got into a heated exchange last month -- again, all on video.

While Joe looks and sounds giddy watching the eviction unfold, his rep says he does not like throwing out tenants, and insists this situation is different because it was a multi-year ordeal.

Britney Spears' father can't dodge her attorney Mathew Rosengart anymore ... a judge has ruled Jamie Spears will be grilled about the conservatorship.

The ruling came down Wednesday in Los Angeles, and as you know ... Britney's dad and Rosengart have been going back and forth for months on this issue. Jamie has insisted that his lawyers be allowed to depose his daughter as well.

On that matter, the judge was prepared to deny the motion to compel Britney to be deposed -- but after hearing arguments, decided to put off a final ruling until July 27.

As for Jamie's deposition ... we don't know yet when it will happen, but we know Rosengart has been very vocal about wanting him to hand over documents and answer questions about how the conservatorship was operated under his watch.

In particular, he's claimed Jamie blew way too much of Brit's money. Rosengart also wants to interrogate him about cameras and listening devices being placed in Britney's room.

Jamie's argument for Britney being deposed centers on the fact she's made so many accusations about how he's treated her -- such as claiming he forced her into rehab and wouldn't allow her to get married -- and he deserves to question her under oath about those allegations.

Amber Heard lost what may have been her best argument for a new trial ... because the judge has just slammed the gavel on her claim that one of the jurors committed fraud.

Amber's legal team had filed docs claiming one of the jurors actually took the summons from his father -- who shared the same name -- and got himself fraudulently empaneled. The father and son live together.

The judge didn't buy what Amber was selling, ruling there was no fraud because the summons did not include a birth date. What's unclear ... does the son's name have anything distinguishing him from his dad, like a "junior" or a "II" at the end. Whatever ... the judge said there was no fraud, suggesting either the father or son could have shown up for jury service.

What's more ... the judge said Amber's motion was sour grapes ... she could have made it much earlier, but the only reason she's doing it now is that she lost the case. In other words, she sat on her hands, so she gets no judicial relief.

Amber also argued the $10 million compensatory damage award that Johnny Depp received was excessive. No surprise here, the judge turned thumbs down on Amber. There was testimony Johnny lost way more than that after his movie roles were pulled in the wake of Amber's defamatory Op-Ed in the Washington Post.

The NFL is facing yet another lawsuit ... this time, musician Bobby Nunn says the league used his famous "Rocket 2 U" song during numerous broadcasts -- including a recent 2022 "Sunday Night Football" game -- but never compensated him for it.

In the suit, filed in New York on Wednesday and obtained by TMZ Sports, Nunn says the smash hit that he wrote and produced for the Jets back in 1988 was used without his permission multiple times by the NFL and NBC Universal.

Nunn specifically claims his song was played during the broadcast of the Packers vs. Vikings 'SNF' game on Jan. 3. In the docs, Nunn included a screen grab of the portion of the broadcast where he says the tune could be heard.

Nunn, who's perhaps most well known for his "She's Just a Groupie" song, claims the NFL never licensed the song to use it ... and says when he made contact with the league and its TV partner about it all, they denied infringement.

Nunn is asking for damages ... as well as for the league and NBC to stop using his song without his consent.

This is now at least the third time the NFL has been sued by a high-profile plaintiff in the last few months -- you'll recall, both Jon Gruden and Brian Flores are involved in lawsuits against The Shield as well.

Boxing legend George Foreman says two women have made up claims that he sexually abused them ... all in an effort to extort him out of millions of dollars.

Sources familiar with the matter tell TMZ Sports ... a lawsuit against Foreman is expected to be filed in L.A. this week by two women whose fathers apparently had a friendship and working relationship with Foreman decades ago.

The suit, according to our sources, is expected to allege that Foreman sexually abused the women in the 1970s.

But, Foreman said in a statement on Wednesday that the allegations are flat-out not true.

"Over the past six months," Foreman said, "two women have been trying to extort millions of dollars each from me and my family. They are falsely claiming that I sexually abused them over 45 years ago in the 1970s."

"I adamantly and categorically deny these allegations. The pride I take in my reputation means as much to me as my sports accomplishments, and I will not be intimidated by baseless threats and lies."

Our sources say Foreman believes the suit and the allegations in it are all part of "a coordinated extortion plot" in which the women have asked him since January to pay them $12.5 MILLION each.

"I am, and always will be, guided by my faith and trust in God," Foreman said. "I will work with my lawyers to fully and truthfully expose my accusers' scheme and defend myself in court. I don't pick fights, but I don't run away from them either."

"Love is Blind" contestant Jeremy Hartwell says the producers behind the Netflix reality show plied contestants with booze, deprived them of food and water, and paid them less than minimum wage ... and now he's suing.

Jeremy, who appeared on season two of the popular reality dating show, is going after Netflix, production company Kinetic Content and casting company Delirium TV with a class action lawsuit.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, the show manufactured drama by forcing the contestants to film while they were drunk, starved, sleep-deprived and underpaid.

Jeremy claims the only drinks regularly provided to the cast were alcoholic beverages, energy drinks, soft drinks and mixers ... he says water was strictly limited during long days on set.

He claims producers would sometimes even withhold hotel room keys so contestants couldn't get sleep, while directing hotel staff not to provide the cast with food.

Jeremy says the combination of sleep deprivation, isolation, lack of food, and an excess of alcohol contributed to inhumane working conditions on the show ... and says it made cast members hungry for social connections, altering their emotions and decision-making.

In the show, contestants go to separate pods to meet their dates, flirting and conversing through speakers while unable to see the other person. In order to meet in person, two contestants have to first get engaged.

Jeremy says he left the show feeling like a zombie and realized he was open to emotional manipulation during production.

As for the pay scale ... Jeremy says producers paid the cast a flat rate of $1,000 per week and forced them to work up to 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, working out to as little as $7.14 an hour ... well below L.A. County's $15 minimum wage.

Jeremy, who wants more contestants from 'Love Is Blind' and other reality shows to join his class action suit, is going after Netflix, Kinetic and Delirium for money, and he wants them hit with civil penalties for labor code violations.

Former Denver Broncos defensive back Brendan Langley is breathing easier today ... his airport assault case has been dismissed, TMZ Sports has learned.

According to a court official, the case was dropped on Wednesday.

Langley's attorney, Halim Dhanidina, tells us the reasoning is because officials determined Langley "used force that was reasonably necessary" during the now-famous May altercation at Newark Liberty International Airport.

"We are grateful for the Court’s decision which puts an end to this ordeal that began nearly two months ago when Mr. Langley was assaulted then wrongfully arrested and charged for exercising his rights under the law," said Dhanidina, who works for Werksman Jackson & Quinn LLP.

As we reported, Langley was initially arrested and charged with simple assault after he socked a United Airlines employee during a May 19 argument at the airport's ticket counter.

Langley -- who hit the guy so many times, he forced him to bleed -- said afterward through his attorney that he was simply defending himself. Langley's rep told us that the United employee had harassed the former NFL player, called him names, and got physical first.

Langley, a Broncos third-round draft pick in 2017, had just signed on to play wide receiver for the Calgary Stampeders, who initially decided to suspend him indefinitely over the fight. No word yet if they're now reinstating him following Wednesday's decision in court.

Elon Musk may think he's getting out of this Twitter deal scot-free, but Senator Elizabeth Warren thinks he might be setting the table for a healthy helping of crow.

The Massachusetts legislator gave us her two cents on the situation Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where she seemed to be in a hurry (per usual). Still, she shot us a little insight of her read into EM trying to pull out of the $44 billion mega-deal ... and she kinda laughed at him.

Watch ... sounds like SEW is team Twitter, saying the Tesla chief may think the rules don't apply to him -- but that he's in for a big surprise as the bird app prepares to fight back.

As you know ... Elon has said he's halting the buy-out because he claims Twitter hasn't handed over the info he wants on suspected bot accounts, among other things, which he claims gives him the right to kill the whole thing.

Twitter, meanwhile, is now taking him to court ... and seems dead set on forcing him to pay what he's agreed to, even though the price in Twitter stock has dropped drastically. The company says Elon is only trying to drop out because the stock market took a big drop after he signed the deal in April ... and both his personal and Twitter's value dropped too.

Elon sounds confident he'll win in front of a judge, but Sen. Warren isn't so sure -- although she stops short of saying why she might feel that way. We know she's no fan of his (or billionaires in general), so maybe she's simply telegraphing what she wants for an outcome.