Former NBA player and coach Byron Scott is facing a lawsuit from a woman who says he sexually assaulted her in 1987 during an event at her high school.
The accuser was 15 at the time, and Scott was 26.
According to court documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the woman accuses the now 64-year-old Scott of sexual battery and false imprisonment. The original lawsuit was filed in 2022 under the California Child Victim’s Act, which extended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors to file civil claims. Scott sought to keep his name out of the documents and requested to use ‘John Doe.’
The lawsuit says the Lakers were visiting the accuser’s high school, Campbell Hall High in Los Angeles, where she was taking summer classes, after which she ‘was sexually assaulted by Byron Scott in a locked janitor’s closet in the high school gymnasium.’ The team was at the school filming instructional basketball videos in the gym and met with the parents, students and teachers.
‘Our client is devastated by this complaint,’ Scott’s attorney Linda Bauermeister said in a statement. ‘Our client believed the plaintiff to be over 18 and had no idea she would claim otherwise until 35 years later. He respects girls and women, and the claims have blindsided him and his family.’
Bauermeister says her client thought the girl was of legal age and doesn’t deny that the sexual activity occurred.
Campbell Hall High School is also named as a defendant, and the lawsuit accuses the institution of negligence for not protecting the accuser. The lawsuit demands a jury trial and $25,000 for damages, payment of attorney fees, and loss of wages to be paid by Scott and the high school.
Scott played for the Lakers from 1983 to 1993, winning three NBA championships during the ‘Showtime’ era, and finished his career with the team in 1996-97. He was married to his first wife, Anita, with whom he had three children, at the time of the incident. He has since divorced and remarried.
He also played for the Indiana Pacers and then Vancouver Grizzlies, and after his playing days were over, coached with the New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers.