Boy Scouts' Bankruptcy Deadline Looms

By Joseph De Avila and Peg Brickley

The Boy Scouts of America will face the last batch of thousands of sex-abuse claims Monday, the deadline for people alleging they were abused as children to come forward in what is shaping up to be the largest bankruptcy case of its kind.

More than 70,000 claims are expected to be filed by Monday in bankruptcy court, according to attorneys involved in the case. The Boy Scouts filed for chapter 11 protection from lawsuits accusing the organization of not taking the necessary precautions to protect the children who joined the group.

The number of claims in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy case is many times the magnitude of the claims in more than 20 Catholic Church diocesan and religious-order bankruptcies that were similarly rooted in widespread child abuse, said James Stang, the lead lawyer for a committee representing people who said they were sexually abused in the Boy Scouts.

"This is the deadline for men who have been grappling with their abuse, seeking legal remedies for their abuse, for years," Mr. Stang said.

The Boy Scouts has acknowledged that it failed to protect its youth members and apologized to the victims. The youth group has also said it continually works to improve measures to protect children.

"We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in scouting and moved by the bravery of those who came forward," the Boy Scouts said. "We intentionally developed an open, accessible process to reach survivors and help them take an essential step toward receiving compensation. The response we have seen from survivors has been gut-wrenching. We are deeply sorry."

Accusations of sexual misconduct have swirled around the Boy Scouts since soon after the group was founded in 1910, and the organization documented allegations of sexual misconduct for decades in what it calls its ineligible-volunteer files. There are about 7,800 records in the files, and they document the individuals the Boy Scouts has deemed unfit to be part of the group, often because of sexual-misconduct allegations.

Attorneys who have been suing the Boy Scouts for years on behalf of abuse victims said they had never imagined such a high number of them would step forward through the bankruptcy process.

"We knew the scope was big," said Paul Mones, an attorney for alleged abuse victims who helped reveal the ineligible-volunteer files in a landmark 2010 case. " We just didn't have any idea the scope was this big."

The bankruptcy filing touched off the first national campaign encouraging survivors to step forward, fueled by mass-marketing techniques including infomercials, text-message blasts and social-media advertising.

"There's also been a steady and increased consciousness in the country of sexual abuse, and those things collided," Mr. Mones said.

The Boy Scouts sought chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, after it was hit with hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits. More than a dozen states changed their statute-of-limitations laws to allow complaints based on decades-old alleged events, because childhood damage often takes decades to surface.

The Boy Scouts has experienced long-declining membership numbers and years of cultural fights over whether girls, gay and transgender youths should be able to join. About 405,000 members affiliated with units sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left the Boy Scouts in early 2020, trimming its membership count to 1.8 million.

The bankruptcy process allows the Boy Scouts to create a trust to pay damage claims and get clear of legal trouble. The national Boy Scouts organization and the local councils that control most of the group's multibillion-dollar trove of real estate, investments, art and other wealth are engaged in talks with creditors, who are probing for assets that can be used to satisfy claims. The size of the claims pool will play a big role in those talks.

The process also involves collecting the stories of thousands of men whose childhood memories are tainted by sexual trauma. Coming forward with allegations of sexual abuse is difficult for survivors in all circumstances, but the deadline to file a claim in the bankruptcy case creates additional stress for survivors who weren't ready to step forward, said Marci Hamilton, chief executive of Child USA, a research and advocacy group focused on child abuse.

"It forces them to come into the legal system, which is very trying, before they may be psychologically ready," Ms. Hamilton said.

Gilion C. Dumas, an attorney, has filed 65 claims for men and one woman who allege they were abused as scouts. She said the process of documenting the wrongs in a claim is important.

"Each case is unique," Ms. Dumas said. "Every man abused as a kid in Boy Scouts had his life damaged in a different way and has his own story to tell."

Andrew Scurria contributed to this article.

Write to Joseph De Avila at [e-mail] and Peg Brickley at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-15-20 1414ET