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Boy Scouts file for bankruptcy due to sex abuse lawsuits

mandrill

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Barraged by hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday in hopes of working out a potentially mammoth victim compensation plan that would enable the hallowed, 110-year-old organization to carry on.

The Chapter 11 filing in federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, 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 bankruptcy court, the Scouts can put those lawsuits on hold for now. But they could ultimately be forced to sell off some of their vast property holdings, including campgrounds and hiking trails, to raise money for a compensation fund that could surpass $1 billion.
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"Scouting programs will continue throughout this process and for many years to come," said Evan Roberts, a spokesman for the Scouts. "Local councils are not filing for bankruptcy because they are legally separate and distinct organizations."

The Boy Scouts are just 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 organization that's 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 resumes and in their official biographies.

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 2 million, down from more than 4 million in peak years of the 1970s. The organization has tried to counter the decline by admitting girls, but its membership rolls took a big hit 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 favor of programs of its own.

The financial outlook got worse last year when New York, Arizona, New Jersey and California passed laws making it easier for victims of long-ago abuse to file claims. Teams of lawyers across the U.S. have been signing up clients by the hundreds to sue the Boy Scouts.

Most of the newly surfacing cases date to the 1960s, '70s and '80s; the organization 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 the U.S. 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 bankruptcy court: the fate of the Boy Scouts' assets; the extent to which the organization's insurance will help cover compensation; and whether assets of the Scouts' more than 260 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."

It may prove difficult to determine how much is available to settle suits.

According to the Reuters news service, the national scouts organization said in its most recent annual report, from 2018, that it had $1.5 billion in assets. In addition, hundreds of local councils have their own assets and, said Reuters, "Victims may try to make those available for settling claims."

The national organization and the local councils combined have almost $5 billion in assets, according to a Wall Street Journal report last month cited by Agence France Presse.

But AFP reports that the national organization estimates liabilities of up to $1 billion, according to court filings from Tuesday.

Amid the crush of lawsuits, the Scouts recently mortgaged the major properties owned by the national leadership, including the headquarters in Irving, Texas, and the 140,000-acre Philmont Ranch in New Mexico, to help secure a line of credit.

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. According to a court deposition, the files as of January listed 7,819 suspected abusers and 12,254 victims.

Until last spring, the organization had insisted it never knowingly allowed a predator to work with youths. But in May, The Associated Press reported that attorneys for abuse victims had identified multiple cases in which known predators were allowed to return to leadership posts. The next day, Boy Scouts chief executive Mike Surbaugh wrote to a congressional committee, acknowledging the group's previous claim was untrue.

James Kretschmer of Houston, among the many men suing for alleged abuse, says he was molested by a Scout leader over several months in the mid-1970s in the Spokane, Washington, area. 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 organization."

"But you know, anything can be corrupted," he added. "And if they're not going to protect the people that they've entrusted with the children, then shut it down and move on."

Ahead of the Chapter 11 filing, lawyers said that because of the organization's 50-state presence, as well as its ties to churches and civic groups that sponsor scout troops, a bankruptcy by the Boy Scouts would be unprecedented in its complexity. It would be national in scope, unlike the various Catholic Church bankruptcy cases, which have unfolded diocese by diocese.

"A Boy Scout bankruptcy would be bigger in scale than any other child abuse bankruptcy we've ever seen," said Seattle-based attorney Mike Pfau, whose firm is representing scores of men nationwide alleging they were abused as Boy Scouts.

Illustrating the depth of its problems, the organization in 2018 sued six of its insurers for refusing to cover its sex abuse liabilities. The insurers said their obligation was void because the Scouts refused to take effective preventive measures such as warning parents that boys might be abused.

First published on February 18, 2020 / 1:36 AM

© 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-scouts-america-bankruptcy-sex-abuse-lawsuits/
 

whitewaterguy

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Aug 30, 2005
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Never been a fan of junior paramilitary type operations, where kids wear uniforms, patches , badges , and have to chant and salute. The potential for things to go awry in systems of indoctrination are now clearly obvious in the aftermath. Thankfully, neighbourhood street hockey , and summer vacation camping trips with my parents sufficed to keep me safe as a kid , from religion and other organized predators. Fuck the Catholics. Fuck the Boy Scouts
 

mandrill

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Aug 23, 2001
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Never been a fan of junior paramilitary type operations, where kids wear uniforms, patches , badges , and have to chant and salute. The potential for things to go awry in systems of indoctrination are now clearly obvious in the aftermath. Thankfully, neighbourhood street hockey , and summer vacation camping trips with my parents sufficed to keep me safe as a kid , from religion and other organized predators. Fuck the Catholics. Fuck the Boy Scouts
Unfortunately, I think they did.
 

shack

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Oct 2, 2001
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Unfortunately, I think they did.
Big LOL.

I was just about to comment that the Boy Scouts want to "be prepared".

p.s. Not making light of what was done to young kids. Just that it was a good zinger by oagre.
 
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Dougal Short

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May 20, 2009
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I was a member of cubs and scouts for years. With the benefit of hindsight, a lot of the leaders were "odd". Middle-aged bachelors etc. Nothing untoward ever happened, but I wouldn't have fit the so called "typical" victim profile in that I was an annoying, pain in the ass kid, full of confidence. :)

Now if we could just get the Catholic Church to fade away, we'd be getting someplace.
 

james t kirk

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Aug 17, 2001
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I was in the cub Scouts and Boy Scouts for years. There was never any funny stuff going on. The leaders were all good people who devoted a lot of time and energy to it. In cubs, our leader was a really nice older woman whose son was in it as well. In scouts, there were a couple of leaders, the main guy was married with a kid, he had been very active in scouts as well. As a kid, I didn't think much about it the amount of time they would have devoted to the kids, but now I think, "man, where did they find the time. I have not an iota of spare time" . Maybe they were simpler times, but still, a huge commitment on their part.

In recalling my time as a scout, I can say this without a doubt, they were decades ahead of their time. We were always taught to respect the environment, and to live by a code of honour. I remember we used to go camping at Mount Nemo Scout camp maybe 3 or 4 times a year. It was like being in the jungle for us and we all loved it. I remember the lessons to respect the environment, not to every leave garbage, to leave a camp site cleaner than we found it. We were taught about wildlife and rivers in nature, and to protect it all. Back in the 70's no-one else was teaching this. To this day I still practice the responsibilities I was taught as a scout.

I find it really sad that perverts have infiltrated scouting because they see it as a great opportunity to get their freak on with young kids. I'm at a loss how something like this could have occurred.

A life sentence without chance of parole is appropriate.
 

mandrill

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Aug 23, 2001
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IDK, James.

I attended Scouts a couple of times and didn't like it or give a shit and dropped out. But my parents used to joke about "boy scout leaders, wink-wink-nudge-nudge" all the time when I was older. So it was pretty notorious even back in the 60's.
 

Sherpa63

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Really interesting that this is all related to Bill Cosby. His drugging and raping women played a massive part in lifting the Statute The Limitations on sex crimes in an increasingly large number of states. The Boy Scouts may have declared bankruptcy anyway, but I wonder what this might mean to a new wave of Catholic Church lawsuits.

I mean holy pudding pops.
 

danmand

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I was a member of cubs and scouts for years. With the benefit of hindsight, a lot of the leaders were "odd". Middle-aged bachelors etc. Nothing untoward ever happened, but I wouldn't have fit the so called "typical" victim profile in that I was an annoying, pain in the ass kid, full of confidence. :)

Now if we could just get the Catholic Church to fade away, we'd be getting someplace.
My son was in the boy scouts for a season. I thought the clubmaster or whatever he was called was odd, and I did not encourage my son to continue.
 

mandrill

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My son was in the boy scouts for a season. I thought the clubmaster or whatever he was called was odd, and I did not encourage my son to continue.
That scoutmaster wasn't a damned lawyer by any chance, was he Danmand?
 

danmand

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That scoutmaster wasn't a damned lawyer by any chance, was he Danmand?
Not to my knowledge! But now that you mention it
 

Smallcock

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Gay pedophiles infiltrated the Boy Scouts the same way they did the Catholic Church. For shame.
 

danmand

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Gay pedophiles infiltrated the Boy Scouts the same way they did the Catholic Church. For shame.
It is different with the church. Celibacy is unnatural and will cause all kind of problems.
 

John Wick

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Oct 25, 2019
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The Boy Scouts will in all likelihood continue in some other incarnation regardless of legal trial and tribulations, and even if they were to go under as a formalized organization, something similar would likely spring up quickly to fill the gap and inevitably be fraught with the same issues. It's been going on since Roman times.
 

SchlongConery

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Jan 28, 2013
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The stated reason the organization sought Chapter 11 protection was to ensure an equal distribution of money among all victims. Otherwise, the first lawsuits are . likely to be awarded hundreds of millions, thereby depleting the pool of funds available to help more victims.

Such a shame that sexual predators seek out these positions of trust among children. I got a great deal of good in so many ways through Cubs, Scouts and Venturers. Not a single weirdo or any suggestion of anything other than good morals and character among all the leaders I knew.

I did miss a close call with hockey though. I was one of the better players in minor hockey. I was friends with lots of other "Rep" team players and one of them invited me to Maple Leaf Gardens to hang out with the trainers and maybe get a shot at a Marlies tryout when we were older. He was a few years older than me. I wasn't impressed with hanging out with "stars" as I was already exposed to many famous people. Later in life this guy and I became friends through music and he confided in me and apologized as he was recruiting other boys for Gordon Stuckless and the other MLG perverts. He was under threat when he was trying to find other boys. Anyways, he was the first to sue MLG and made the criminal complaints. Despite him trying to do the right thing, heal and move n, was so tormented and haunted by the experience that he jumped off the Bloor Viaduct twenty years ago or so.

All so a couple of despicable perverts could get their rocks off. Just like these fucking Cub Scout leaders and Catholic priests.





Rest in Peace Arnie,

Rot in Hell Ballard, Roby and Hannah

Rot in Life Stuckless.


https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/4o7ne0/wayback_wednesday_abuse_at_maple_leaf_gardens/
 

mandrill

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Gay pedophiles infiltrated the Boy Scouts the same way they did the Catholic Church. For shame.

You mean they just kind of "slipped in through the back door"?
 
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