Nearly 90,000 sexual abuse claims were filed against the Boy Scouts of America when the deadline for filing claims in the organization’s bankruptcy proceedings expired on Monday.
The number far exceeds the original projections of attorneys in the United States who have filed clients since the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy in February, amid hundreds of lawsuits of decades of sexual abuse by Boy Scout leaders.
“We are devastated by the number of lives affected by past abuse while scouting and moved by the bravery of those who came forward,” the Boy Scouts said in a statement. “We are heartbroken that we cannot undo their pain.”
A few hours before the 5 p.m. (10 p.m. GMT) deadline expired, the number of claims reached 88,500, lawyers said.
Ultimately, the federal bankruptcy court case will result in the creation of a compensation fund to pay settlements to abused survivors whose claims are upheld.
The potential size of the fund is not yet known and will be the subject of complex negotiations.
The national organization is expected to raise a significant portion of its assets, including financial investments and real estate. The Boy Scouts’ insurers will also contribute, as will the 260 or so local councils and Boy Scout companies that have insured the organization in the past.
Andrew Van Arsdale, a lawyer with a network called Abused in Scouting, said his group had signed about 16,000 applicants. He said that number doubled after the Boy Scouts, under the supervision of a bankruptcy judge, launched a nationwide publicity campaign on Aug. 31 to notify victims that they had until Nov. 16 to seek compensation.
“You spent millions encouraging people to come forward,” said Van Arsdale. “Now the question arises whether they can keep their commitment.”
The Boy Scouts said they “purposely developed an open, accessible process to reach out to survivors and help them take a significant step toward compensation”.
“The response we have received from survivors has been horrific,” added the organization. “We are very sorry.”
Declining institution
Bankruptcy was painful for 110-year-old Boy Scouts, who have been a pillar of American civic life for generations.
Its finances were already strained by sexual abuse settlements and declining membership numbers – now below two million from a high of over four million in the 1970s.
Most of the pending sexual abuse claims date from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s before the Boy Scouts introduced criminal background checks, abuse prevention training for all staff and volunteers, and the rule that two or more adult leaders must be present during activities.
One of the controversial questions that still need to be resolved in the bankruptcy process is the extent to which the Scouts’ local councils make a contribution to the compensation fund.
In its filing for bankruptcy, the national organization said that the councils, which have extensive real estate holdings and other assets, are separate legal entities and should not be included as debtors in this case. An ad hoc committee representing the councils has negotiated what they will pay in.
According to the terms of the case, no further sexual abuse claims can be made against the Boy Scouts after Monday.
However, Attorney Jason Amala, part of a legal team that represents more than 1,000 petitioners, said that some states that have victim-friendly statute of limitations, such as New York, New Jersey, and New York, could still make new motions against community councils in California.
“Amazing”
Attorney Paul Mones, who won a US $ 19.9 million sexual abuse ruling against the Boy Scouts in Oregon in 2010, said there is careful work ahead of us to determine which insurers over the decades that have Abuse took place, responsible for reporting to the national organization and local councils. He said the eventual payments are likely to vary depending on the severity and duration of the abuse.
“The number of allegations is staggering,” said Mones, noting that many abuse victims are unlikely to have occurred. “It’s terrifying in terms of the amount of horror that has been experienced.”
Some of the allegations could be difficult to verify if they include allegations of abuse against volunteer Boy Scout leaders whose names did not appear on official rosters from long ago, Mones said.
One of the official parties in the case, a group of nine sexual abuse survivors who represented all victims, called the case “the largest and most tragic bankruptcy ever resulting from sexual abuse liability.”
“There are more sexual abuse lawsuits filed in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy than any lawsuit filed against the Catholic Church across the country,” said the Torts Claimants Committee.
“Scouting sexual abuse is unprecedented and the remedies for victims must also be unprecedented,” said committee chairman John Humphrey.
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