Sexual assault lawsuit against Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton dropped
Los Angeles self-help guru Kelli Tennant, who earlier this year accused Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton of sexually assaulting her five years ago, has dropped her lawsuit against the Kings coach, a move that appears to clear a cloud that had been hanging over Walton since April.
Court filings show Tennant asked a Los Angeles judge to dismiss the case this week, and got the judge’s approval on Wednesday. It is not known whether a settlement has been reached. The case was dismissed “with prejudice,” court records show, meaning Tennant cannot re-file.
Walton issued a brief statement Thursday via an email from the Kings’ front office declining to discuss the lawsuit. “I remain 100 percent focused on coaching the Kings and will have no further comment,” the statement said.
Walton’s attorney, Mark Baute, also issued a statement, but did not address whether a settlement had occurred: “I can confirm we received the dismissal and it’s nice to see that it was voluntarily and permanently dismissed by the claimant.”
In an April email to The Bee, Baute called Tennant’s claims “outrageous” and said “we will not ... pay them a dime.”
Neither Tennant nor her attorney could be reached Thursday.
In the April civil lawsuit, Tennant accused Walton of sexual battery in a Santa Monica hotel room in 2014, and another alleged incident in 2017 at a charity event. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court one week after the Kings hired Walton as their head coach. Tennant did not file a police report.
Tennant said the incident occurred when she went to Walton’s hotel to give him a copy of a book she had written offering advice to athletes transitioning to retirement. Walton was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors at the time, and is listed in the book as the author of the “forward” or introductory section section.
He and Tennant had known each other for years, beginning when Tennant played collegiate volleyball for USC against Walton’s future wife. Tennant and Walton had briefly worked together at Spectrum Sportsnet in Los Angeles, where Tennant was a reporter and studio host for Los Angeles Lakers broadcasts, and Walton served as an analyst.
Tennant said Walton forcibly kissed and groped her, ignoring her pleas for him to stop. Tennant also alleged Walton sexually harassed her in subsequent encounters when he was coaching the Lakers and she was working in television.
Walton’s attorneys in previous court filings acknowledged that the two met at the hotel that day, but wrote that “their encounter was very short, entirely pleasant and consensual.”
In August, investigators hired by the NBA and the Kings said there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations. Tennant at the time worked as a Los Angeles TV reporter. She declined to talk with the Kings’ hired investigators.
Jeremy Evans, founder and managing attorney at California Sports Lawyer in Los Angeles said Tennant could have closed the lawsuit as a result of reaching a negotiated settlement between her and Walton. But if that happened, Evans said, the attorneys and their clients likely would have signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from discussing the case.
“There’s a 50 percent chance ... and no one will ever know,” Evans told The Bee.
Michael Robbins, one of California’s leading workplace investigators, agreed, saying if a settlement was reached it likely would include stipulations that it remain confidential. He said the terms of any negotiated deal would likely be based on how thorough the Kings/NBA investigation was, and what its specific findings were.
Tennant retired from sports in college due to chronic fatigue illness, and now is a life coach for women, focusing on physical and emotional health matters. She has not spoken publicly about the alleged incidents with Walton since holding a press conference in Los Angeles earlier this year after filing the lawsuit.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 8:55 AM.
