Claimants have filed nearly 90,000 allegations of sexual abuse against the Boy Scouts of America ahead of the Monday deadline — making this the largest bankruptcy case ever to result from a sexual abuse liability.
“As of this morning, more than 88,500 claims have been filed since the Boy Scouts commenced this bankruptcy on February 18, 2020,” the Tort Claimants’ Committee, one of the parties in the case, said. “This makes the Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy case the largest and most tragic bankruptcy ever resulting from sexual abuse liability. More sexual abuse claims will be filed in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy than all claims filed against the Catholic Church throughout the nation.”
James Stang, a counsel to the Tort Claimants’ Committee, said that the Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy “is literally 100 times larger than any other bankruptcy case resulting from sexual abuse liability. The Tort Claimants Committee’s duty is to ensure that all survivors of sexual abuse in Scouting are fairly compensated.”
Most of the claims fall between the 1960s to the 1980s — before the Boy Scouts began mandating criminal background checks or abuse prevention training for all staff and volunteers, according to ABC News.
“As victims of abuse in the Boy Scouts, we are inspired by the courage of so many fellow scouts who stepped forward to make known they suffered similar abuse,” said John Humphrey, chairman of the claimants’ committee. “We each live with the impact of abuse every day.”
The Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy in February after the 110-year-old organization received hundreds of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse. The Boy Scouts will use the Chapter 11 petition to reorganize and establish a victims’ compensation fund.
The deadline to file a sexual abuse claim for this case is Monday at 5 p.m., but victims who miss that deadline can still file suits against local Boy Scout councils in states that have “victim-friendly statute-of-limitations laws, such as New York, New Jersey, and California,” according to attorney Jason Amala, who is part of a legal team representing more than 1,000 claimants.
In a statement, the BSA said it was “devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in Scouting.”
“The response we have seen from survivors has been gut wrenching,” the organization added. “We are deeply sorry.”
