Byron Scott is objecting to what his attorneys say is a late attempt to obtain past communications he had with other ex-Lakers regarding a 54-year-old woman who accuses the former NBA guard and coach of sexually abusing her during a 1987 team event.
Scott’s lawyers filed court papers on Wednesday with Burbank Superior Court Judge Lee S. Arian stating that the woman’s legal team waited too long to seek the information. According to Scott’s attorneys’ court papers, the woman’s lawyers want e-mails, instant messages, text messages and other electronic communications between Scott and former Lakers Michael Cooper, Mychal Thompson, James Worthy, Kurt Rambis and team trainer Gary Vitti that pertain to the plaintiff from Dec. 30, 2022, to the present.
“Discovery has been cut-off by court order,” Scott’s attorneys argue in their pleadings. “Had plaintiff timely sought such communications a formal response could have been provided. It is too late to make such a request.”
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.
A hearing is scheduled Friday on a request for Arian’s approval of the part of the case against the school. Under a previous court order, the terms of the accord will remain sealed until the part of the case against Scott is tried and a final judgment is entered.
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 that he believed the girl was a member of the production crew and not a student or a minor.
Scott played for the Lakers in 1983-93 and again in 1996-97. Scott coached the Lakers in 2014-16.