The civil sexual assault trial against former NBA star and LA Lakers icon Byron Scott has been paused due to his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.
Byron Scott’s sexual assault trial has been put on hold, as the Los Angeles Lakers great filed for bankruptcy last week in a controversial move.
Position
PG, SG
Age
27
Height
203 cm
Weight
104 kg
Birth place
Ljubljana, Slovenia
According to Chuck Schilken of The Los Angeles Times, the civil trial Scott is facing has been paused after his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.
Under federal law, Scott’s bankruptcy filing triggered an automatic stay, which legally pauses all active state court proceedings and civil lawsuits against him indefinitely.
Byron Scott alleged to have sexually assaulted a high school teenager in 1987
Byron Scott is facing a civil lawsuit brought by Hayley Dylan, who accuses him of sexually assaulting her in a janitor’s closet at Campbell Hall School in 1987 when she was a 15-year-old student.
During that time, Scott was a 26-year-old married man and a star player for the Los Angeles Lakers. The team was shooting an instructional basketball video in the school gym when Scott and Dylan walked away from faculty members and the video production crew.
The case was originally scheduled for a jury trial on Tuesday but was pushed back to Oct. 12 due to a court scheduling conflict. However, Scott’s bankruptcy filing has now left the timing of the trial completely uncertain.
Byron Scott under intense scrutiny for bankruptcy filing amid sexual case trial
In his bankruptcy filing, Scott listed his debt as “alleged tort liability.” He also estimated his assets at $50,000 or less and his liabilities between $1 million and $10 million.
Hayley Dylan’s legal team is now preparing a motion asking the bankruptcy court to allow the civil trial to proceed in state court. Her attorney, Kerry Garvis Wright, further criticized Scott’s Chapter 7 filing, describing it as a “pathetic and cowardly” attempt to avoid accountability at trial.
“We’re planning on exploring all of our options to get relief from stay and to have this case tried before a jury as soon as possible so that Byron Scott can face the consequences of his actions,” Wright said.
A 15-year professional athlete, Scott prominently served as the starting shooting guard of the Los Angeles Lakers’ “Showtime” era, helping the team win three NBA titles in 1985, 1987, and 1988.
After capping off his career in 1998 as a star in Europe by leading Panathinaikos, Scott pursued coaching gigs. His last head-coaching tenure was with the Los Angeles Lakers, managing the team from 2014 to 2016.
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