Jameis Winston’s legal team has filed their response to Erica Kinsman’s civil lawsuit, which accused him of sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment and “intentional infliction of emotional distress arising out of forcible rape.” Winston is denying the rape and all of Kinsman’s claims, which was expected. But this isn’t just any denial; instead Winston and Co. and have gone scorched earth.
This is an offensive. From the very first page of the counterclaim (emphasis is not mine; that’s how it appears in the filing):
Ms. Kinsman has told many different and inconsistent accounts of her sexual encounter with Mr. Winston on the evening of December 6, 2012 and the morning of December 7, 2012. Indeed, the Tallahassee Police Department (“TPD”), Florida State’s attorney’s investigation (“State Attorney”), the hearings in Florida State University’s (“FSU”) Code of Conduct hearing for Ronald Darby and Christopher Casher, the Code of Conduct hearing for Mr. Winston, and Dr. Allison Crume, the Appellate Officer who presided over Ms. Kinsman’s appeal of the favorable ruling in Mr. Winston’s Code of Conduct hearing, have all considered Ms. Kinsman’s story and rejected it. Ms. Kinsman is 0 for 6.
It’s one thing to deny her claim, and another thing to treat an accusation of rape as something from a box score. But Winston’s team wasn’t done yet.
... Ms. Kinsman has been successful in one major area. She has mounted a false and vicious media campaign to vilify Mr. Winston with the objective of getting him to pay her to go away. Ms. Kinsman is motivated by the most insidious objectives— greed. Ms. Kinsman abused administrative proceedings and obstructed criminal investigations to construct a false tale, upon which she intends to rely in this action against Mr. Winston. ...
Yes, a bunch of expensive lawyers—who make part of their living giving people money so they go away—are accusing someone else of greed because she pursued the last legal recourse available to her. But later in the suit, the lawyers blow the MRA dog whistle (again, emphasis as it appears in the filing, a heading that introduces essentially a recap of Winston’s college career and more allegations she was after his money*):
Kinsman has made the False Statements in an effort to cause damage to Mr. Winston’s reputation and to coerce and extort him to give her money and “make her go away.” Ms. Kinsman was aware that Mr. Winston was likely to earn a substantial amount of money in salary, bonuses, and endorsements as a professional NFL football player. Ms. Kinsman, in concert with her attorneys, was and is motivated to make her malicious and false public statements that she was raped by Mr. Winston in order to influence public perception of Mr. Winston, impair his marketability, and ultimately coerce him into paying her off to “make her go away.”
Ms. Kinsman Knew of and Specifically Targeted Mr. Winston’s Earnings Potential
These are only a few of the lowlights. There’s much more, like the claim that Kinsman “intentionally and unjustifiably” interfered with Winston’s relationship with NFL teams, an interesting thing to point out considering the Buccaneers never contacted her. There’s also accusations that Kinsman’s lawyers leaked transcripts of the Florida State code of conduct hearing to Vice. (Lawyers complaining about other lawyers leaking documents to reporters—a near daily part of any courthouse beat—is like complaining about the New York Times being too liberal. It’s part of the package).
The full filing is below.
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