Sexual assault lawsuit against Antonio Brown won't go to trial until December 2021
The sexual assault civil suit against Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown, filed by his former trainer Britney Taylor, has been delayed by an entire year. The case was scheduled to be heard Dec. 14-18, 2020, but court documents filed on Dec. 1 show that the case is now set for Dec. 6, 2021. The new trial date was initially reported by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.
The suit, which was filed in October 2019, alleges that Brown raped Taylor in his home in Hollywood, Florida, in May 2018. Brown denies the allegations. Taylor is seeking both punitive and compensatory damages, and Brown had filed a countersuit alleging that Taylor’s allegations had prevented him from being signed. Those counterclaims were dropped after Brown was signed by the Buccaneers.
No reason was given for why the trial has been postponed for an entire year, but a number of motions have been filed recently that could partially explain why. Brown’s lawyer walked off the case in late September, and a new lawyer didn’t file with the court to represent him until over a month later. Taylor’s lawyer has filed several claims in the last few months alleging that Brown has refused to turn over electronic records as part of discovery, and in turn, Brown’s lawyer has alleged that Taylor has refused to agree to a date for a deposition.
Regardless of why, the civil case is going to hang over Brown’s head for another year, and it likely won’t impact his status with the NFL for the remainder of the 2020 season. It also might not impact his status with the NFL for most of the 2021 season, since the trial isn’t scheduled to take place until mid-December. The NFL’s investigation into the matter is still ongoing, and there’s no telling when that might end.
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