Seattle Seahawks tight end Kellen Winslow is being sued for more than $133,000 in damages to a Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., home that he and his wife had rented for six months in 2011, Brent Schrotenboer of U-T San Diego reported Wednesday.
The suit, recently filed in San Diego Superior Court, alleges that Persian rugs "were stained with dog urine and also littered with dog feces," and that the home smelled of animal waste, according to the newspaper. The walls of the master bedroom allegedly had holes in it, and outdoor furniture was "pocked with cigarette and cigar burns." The suit also alleges that Winslow's final rent payment was $500 short of the $9,000 per month that he owed, and that the couple has unpaid utilities bills from their six months at the home.
Brian Watkins, Winslow's attorney, denied the allegations, referring to the suit as a "shakedown of a professional athlete."
"They want to portray it as though Kellen Winslow had a fraternity of football friends partying," Watkins told the newspaper. "But the house was rented for his wife, who was pregnant. She was living there with her mother and a housekeeper. There was no partying going on. Kellen was rarely even there."
Watkins told the newspaper that the bills were supposed to have been handled by Winslow's real estate agent, but weren't paid because of some sort of mix-up. He attributed the holes in the walls to the mounting of flat-screen TVs.
According to Schrotenboer, Winslow and his wife recently purchased a home in the same area. Traded by the Tampa Bay Buccaneersto the Seahawks earlier this week, the 28-year-old Winslow has three years and $15.95 million remaining on a $37.151 million contract he signed in April of 2009.
