June 2022 update: The proceedings against Douglas Day Stewart were dismissed in October 2021. The dismissal is to be treated the same as if the proceedings had been dismissed following a trial. Original article follows.

Hollywood screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart is being sued over allegations that he sexually exploited an underage girl he met on a Vancouver Island film set back in the 1990s.

In a civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court this month, the 42-year-old plaintiff says she was just 17 when she was cast as an extra in the "The Scarlet Letter," a movie partly filmed in and around Campbell River in 1994.

Stewart, who co-wrote the film, "played an active role on the set of the movie," the court documents claim, adding that he allegedly began to show "increasing attention" towards the plaintiff after she and another female extra had been asked to appear topless during an outdoor scene.

According to the suit, Stewart invited the plaintiff to a wrap party once filming was done where, despite being under B.C.'s legal drinking age, she was allegedly "given alcohol, first by other party attendees, and then by Mr. Stewart."

By this point, the plaintiff had already told Stewart – who was 54 at the time – that she was just 17 years old, the lawsuit claims.

"Once (the plaintiff) was intoxicated, Mr. Stewart told her to come to his suite at the Coast Hotel," the court documents allege. "Mr. Stewart then gave (the plaintiff), who was already intoxicated, more alcohol, and proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her. (The plaintiff), who was intoxicated and unfamiliar with the effects of alcohol, did not have the capacity to consent to sexual intercourse."

The plaintiff alleges that, the next day, Stewart invited her to Nova Scotia, assuring her that he could get her a role in the remainder of the filming of "The Scarlet Letter."

The court documents claim that the plaintiff ended up staying in a private bungalow with Stewart in Peggy's Cove, N.S. and that she never got work as an actor on "The Scarlet Letter" again.

"Mr. Stewart introduced (the plaintiff) to marijuana. They would often get high and drink alcohol together," the lawsuit alleges. "Throughout the time in Nova Scotia, Mr. Stewart continued to sexually exploit (the plaintiff)."

According to the lawsuit, Stewart – an Oscar nominee who is also known for "The Blue Lagoon" and "An Officer and a Gentleman" – took her to Mexico in January of 1995 and then to Los Angeles the next month.

"(The plaintiff) was by now in a foreign country and completely reliant on Mr. Stewart for money, housing and emotional support," the suit claims, adding that Stewart would allegedly fly her to Hawaii and leave her alone for weeks at a time, only returning on weekends.

"The hostility between them intensified, as did the (the plaintiff's) dependency on alcohol as a coping mechanism, which Mr. Stewart facilitated and cultivated," the suit claims.

The plaintiff eventually fled the situation, her lawyers claim, but was forced to turn to sex work because she was not allowed to legally work in California and Stewart had stopped supporting her financially. She was arrested in Las Vegas at the age of 18, according to the court documents.

"In one year, (the plaintiff) went from being an innocent 17-year-old high schooler with no significant sexual experience to an alcohol-addicted sex worker," the court documents read. "Mr. Stewart's predation was the intervening factor."

CTV News has reached out to the Toronto law firm representing Stewart, but was told in an email that his lawyer was overseas and would not be available for comment until March 25.

The lawsuit also lists the Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Studies and Hollywood pictures as defendants "vicariously liable" in the case.

None of the allegations against Stewart, now 79, or the other defendants have been tested in court, and none of the defendants have filed a response to the suit.

The plaintiff's lawyers would not comment on the case.