Attorneys for Byron Scott are asking a judge to disregard the trial brief submitted by lawyers for a 53-year-old woman who accuses the 6 foot, 4-inch former Lakers shooting guard of sexually abusing her during a 1987 team event at her high school, maintaining it was filed days too late.
The Burbank Superior Court complaint alleges sexual battery and false imprisonment. Scott, now 64, is named as a defendant along with Campbell Hall School — a private, prestigious K-12 independent Episcopal school in Studio City. The plaintiff was 15 years old at the time and Scott was 26.
In court papers filed Wednesday with Judge Lee Arian, Scott’s legal team contends that the plaintiff was obligated to file her trial brief five calendar days before the Feb. 13 final status conference, but instead did so four hours before the hearing.
“Plaintiff failed to provide any reason that the trial brief might have been the result of mistake or excusable neglect,” according to Scott’s lawyers’ court papers. “As such, the court should not consider plaintiff’s trial brief.”
In California state court a trial brief is a factual summary filed in order go give the judge an overview of a party’s arguments as well as the relevant law.
According to the plaintiff’s suit, she was in summer school at Campbell Hall 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.
The encounter between the plaintiff and Scott was never told to anyone at the school and remained unreported until the 2022 lawsuit, Scott’s attorneys further stated, adding that in their dismissal pleadings the Campbell Hall lawyers wrongly stated that the former NBA player admitted to committing a sexual assault.
According to the suit filed in December 2022, the plaintiff loved school, had many friends and had never before kissed a boy. Trial of her case is scheduled May 27.