Boy Scouts seek bankruptcy amid thousands of sex abuse claims
The organisation is navigating compensation for victims while vying for survival, reports Jack Mcgregor
BOY Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy protection as it faces new legal battles over thousands of alleged sexual abuses.
The 110-year-old organisation made the filing in a court in Wilmington, Delaware, as it tries to negotiate a potentially mammoth compensation plan for abuse victims that will allow it to survive.
The Chapter 11 filing sets in motion what could be one of the biggest, most complex bankruptcies ever seen.
Scores of lawyers are seeking settlements on behalf of several thousand men who say they were molested as Scouts by Scoutmasters or other leaders decades ago but are only now eligible to sue because of recent changes in their states’ statute of limitations laws.
By going to the bankruptcy court, the organisation can put those lawsuits on hold for now. But, ultimately, it could be forced to sell off some of its vast property holdings, including campsites and hiking trails, to raise money for a compensation fund that could surpass $1 billion (£770 million).
“Scouting programmes will continue throughout this process and for many years to come,” said Scouts spokesman Evan Roberts. “Local councils are not filing for bankruptcy because they are legally separate and distinct organisations.”
The Boy Scouts is the latest major American institution to face a heavy price over sexual abuse. Roman Catholic dioceses across the country and schools such as Penn State and Michigan State have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.
The bankruptcy represents a painful turn for an organisation that has been a pillar of American civic life for generations and a training ground for future leaders. Achieving the rank of Eagle Scout has long been a proud accomplishment that politicians, business leaders, astronauts and others put on their CVS.
The Boy Scouts’ finances have been strained in recent years by declining membership and sex-abuse settlements.
The number of youths taking part in Scouting has dropped below two million, down from more than four million at its peak in the 1970s. The organisation has tried to counter the decline by admitting girls, but its membership rolls took a big hit on January 1 when the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints – for decades a major sponsor of Boy Scout units – cut ties and withdrew more than 400,000 Scouts in favour of its own programmes.
Most of the newly surfacing cases date to the 1960s, 70s and 80s; the organisation says there were only five known abuse victims in 2018.
The Boy Scouts credit the change to an array of prevention policies adopted since the mid-1980s, including mandatory criminal background checks and abuse-prevention training for all staff and volunteers, and a rule that two or more adult leaders be present during all activities.
In many ways, the crisis parallels the one facing the Catholic Church in America. Both institutions boast of major progress over recent decades in combating abuse, whether by priests or Scout leaders, but both face many lawsuits alleging negligence and cover-ups, mostly decades ago.
Among the matters to be addressed in the bankruptcy court are the fate of the Boy Scouts’ assets; the extent to which the organisation’s insurance will help cover compensation; and whether
There are a lot of very angry, resentful men out there who will not allow the Boy Scouts to get away without saying what all their assets are
assets of the Scouts’ 261 local councils will be added to the fund.
“There are a lot of very angry, resentful men out there who will not allow the Boy Scouts to get away without saying what all their assets are,” said lawyer Paul Mones, who represents numerous clients suing the BSA. “They want no stone unturned.”
Founded in 1910, the Boy Scouts have kept confidential files since the 1920s listing staff and volunteers implicated in sexual abuse, for the avowed purpose of keeping predators away from youth. Court files as of January listed 7,819 suspected abusers and 12,254 victims.
Until last spring, the organisation had insisted it never knowingly allowed a predator to work with youths. But in May, lawyers for abuse victims had identified multiple cases in which known predators were allowed to return to leadership posts.
James Kretschmer, of Houston, among the many men suing for alleged abuse, said he was molested by a Scout leader in the mid-1970s.
Regarding the bankruptcy, he said:
“It is a shame because at its core and what it was supposed to be, the Boy Scouts is a beautiful organisation.
“But anything can be corrupted. And if they’re not going to protect the people that they’ve entrusted with children, then shut it down and move on.”