An attorney for Byron Scott has told a judge her client will be filing for bankruptcy as trial nears in a lawsuit brought by a 54-year-old woman who accuses the former Lakers shooting guard of sexually abusing her during a 1987 team event.
The announcement by Scott lawyer Linda Bauermeister came during a hearing Friday in which Burbank Superior Court Judge Lee S. Arian approved a sealed settlement between the plaintiff and Campbell Hall.
A bankruptcy filing typically puts civil litigation on hold and trial of the part of the woman’s case against Scott is scheduled Oct. 12.
The part of the case against Campbell Hall will remain under wraps until after the allegations involving Scott are tried and a final judgment is entered.
The “Showtime” era Laker player’s attorneys opposed the temporary sealing.
The complaint alleges sexual battery and false imprisonment. Scott, now 65, is named as a defendant along with Campbell Hall School, a K-12 independent Episcopal school. The plaintiff was 15 years old at the time of the alleged abuse and Scott was 26.
According to the plaintiff’s suit filed in December 2022, she was in summer school at Campbell Hall in 1987 when she was sexually assaulted by Scott in a locked janitor’s closet in the school gymnasium. The Lakers were at the school to film an instructional basketball video and meet with students, parents and faculty members, according to the complaint.
But in their court papers, Scott’s attorneys stated he believed the girl was a member of the production crew and not a student or a minor.