Former Los Angeles Lakers guard and head coach Byron Scott faces a major legal milestone. A long-running civil lawsuit against him moves toward trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The Los Angeles Times reported that Campbell Hall, the private K-12 school in Studio City where the alleged 1987 incident involving Scott occurred, has officially reached a confidential settlement with the plaintiff. This development removes the institution as a co-defendant ahead of Scott’s individual trial scheduled to begin on September 8 in Van Nuys.
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While the exact financial terms of Campbell Hall’s settlement remain under seal, the resolution leaves the 65-year-old former NBA star as the sole remaining defendant in the civil proceedings. The plaintiff, who was a 15-year-old student at the school at the time of the event, is seeking unspecified economic and non-economic damages from Scott under California’s Child Victims Act.
Scott, who was a 26-year-old married player for the Lakers during the summer of 1987, has acknowledged that sexual contact occurred between him and the plaintiff. However, he has maintained through legal filings that he believed she was an 18-year-old member of a visiting video production crew rather than a student.
In a statement previously issued to the Los Angeles Times, Scott’s defense attorney Linda Bauermeister said:
“Our client is devastated by this complaint, a basketball event that took place in 1987. 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.”
Recent court filings processed ahead of the trial indicate that Scott’s defense team has requested that any financial award determined by a jury be offset by the settlement amount paid by Campbell Hall.
However, the victim’s legal counsel, Kerry Garvis Wright, has countered the motion, arguing that under state law, a non-settling defendant is entitled only to offsets for economic damages, whereas the school’s confidential resolution accounts exclusively for non-economic harm and emotional distress.
Byron Scott the sole defendant in upcoming legal battle
The civil complaint against Scott was filed in December 2022 under Assembly Bill 218, known as California’s Child Victims Act. Signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, the statute opened a temporary three-year window from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022, allowing survivors to bring civil claims regarding historical childhood sexual abuse that were previously barred by the statute of limitations.
The victim, now 54, settled a part of her case with her private Studio City high school in early August. A hearing was scheduled for August 17 for the judge first to decide whether to grant the school’s motion to file the settlement under seal.
Before reaching the confidential settlement, Campbell Hall filed a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of the complaint against Scott. However, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lee S. Arian denied the school’s motion in January, ruling that the school was responsible for protecting students from harm by a third party while on campus.
“Plaintiff was the only student selected to remain after others left, yet no one checked on her whereabouts during lunch and no one looked for Scott and plaintiff while they were alone. The evidence reflects that plaintiff’s whereabouts were effectively ignored,” Arian wrote.
Campbell Hall instead removed itself from the case through a settlement a month before Byron Scott’s court date.
The upcoming September 8 trial marks the latest legal struggle for Scott, a prominent figure in Southern California sports history.
Raised in Los Angeles, Scott attended Morningside High School in Inglewood before playing 11 of his 14 NBA seasons with the Lakers, winning three NBA championships during the franchise’s “Showtime” era in 1985, 1987, and 1988.
Following his playing career, Scott spent 15 seasons as an NBA head coach across five franchises, including a two-year stint leading the Lakers from 2014 to 2016.