The Boy Scouts have received approval from a bankruptcy judge to an agreement that would have them pay $850 million into a fund to compensate the tens of thousands of young men who were molested by boy scout leaders, but it may not be final because the judge refused to approve allowing the organization to pay the victims’ lawyers. Judge Laura Selber Silverstein said she was concerned the money would be diverted from the victims. The Associated Press has the story:
$850 million bankruptcy agreement for Boy Scouts running into hurdles
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A bankruptcy judge Thursday approved a proposal by the Boy Scouts of America to enter into an agreement that includes an $850 million fund to compensate tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as youngsters by scout leaders.
But the judge also rejected two key provisions of the deal, potentially jeopardizing the agreement that the organization had been hoping to use as a springboard to emerge from bankruptcy later this year.
Following three days of testimony and arguments, Judge Laura Selber Silverstein granted the BSA’s request to enter into an agreement involving the national Boy Scouts organization, roughly 250 local Boy Scout councils, and attorneys representing some 70,000 men who say they were sexually abused as youngsters decades ago while engaged in Boy Scout-related activities. The agreement calls for the Boy Scouts and local councils to contribute $850 million into a fund for abuse claimants.
The agreement was opposed by insurers who issued policies to the Boy Scouts and local councils, attorneys representing thousands of other abuse victims, and various church denominations that have sponsored local Boy Scout troops.
It was not immediately clear how Thursday’s ruling will affect the future of the bankruptcy case, given that she rejected two significant provisions in the restructuring support agreement, or RSA.
“Basically, everybody’s going to have to go back to the drawing board,” said Paul Mones, an attorney representing hundreds of abuse claimants. “I think this is going to cause a reset.”
While ruling that BSA officials exercised proper business judgment as required under the law in entering into the agreement, the judge refused to grant a request that the Boy Scouts be allowed to pay millions of dollars in legal fees and expenses of attorneys hired by law firms that represent tens of thousands of abuse claimants.
As part of the deal, the Boy Scouts agreed to pay millions of dollars in legal fees and expenses incurred by law firms representing an ad hoc group called the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice. Law firms affiliated with the coalition represent some 63,000 abuse claimants and were among the supporters of the agreement.
Silverstein said she had several concerns about the fee request, including whether the coalition is duplicating efforts by the official victims committee appointed by the U.S. bankruptcy trustee, and whether the coalition is making a substantial contribution to the case.
The judge also noted that coalition attorneys had emphasized in a court filing last year that their legal fees would be paid by individual law firms they were representing, and that abuse claimants would not be responsible in any way for those costs.
Silverstein said any payment of legal fees by the Boys Scouts, or by the victims fund, which was also contemplated in the agreement, “comes directly or indirectly out of their clients’ pockets, and indeed the pockets of all abuse victims..”
“Any funds diverted from abuse victims, especially to pay an obligation of their lawyers, needs to be closely examined,” she said.
Silverstein also denied the BSA’s request under the agreement for permission to withdraw from an April agreement in which insurance company The Hartford would pay $650 million into the fund for abuse claimants in exchange for being released from any further liability.
Silverstein said the Hartford settlement was a separate issue from the agreement, and that the BSA’s attempt to use the agreement as a vehicle to back out of that deal was improper.
“You can’t just roll up any relief you want and put it in a request to approve an RSA,” she said. ”… The request to determine debtor’s obligations or, conversely, Hartford’s damages, is not appropriate in this context.”
Irwin Zalkin, an attorney for abuse claimants who opposed the agreement, said the judge “gutted” key conditions that supporters were hoping to “box her into.”
“In my view the RSA has been rendered toothless,” Zalkin said.
A spokesperson for the Boy Scouts of America had no immediate comment on the ruling.
The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 in an effort to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a huge compensation fund for thousands of men who were molested as youngsters by scoutmasters or other leaders. Although the organization was facing 275 lawsuits at the time of the filing, it is now facing some 82,500 sexual abuse claims in the bankruptcy case.
Under the agreement, the Boy Scouts would contribute up to $250 million in cash and property to a fund for victims of child sexual abuse. The local councils, which run day-to-day operations for Boy Scout troops, would contribute $600 million. In addition, the national organization and local councils would transfer their rights to Boy Scout insurance policies to the victims fund. In return, they would be released from future liability for abuse claims.
Opponents of the deal argued that BSA officials failed to fully inform themselves or exercise proper business judgment in entering into the agreement. They noted that the Boy Scouts board of directors never adopted a resolution approving the agreement, and that decision-making authority was delegated to an executive committee and a handful of people on a bankruptcy task force.
“Having reviewed the evidence, I conclude that debtors were sufficiently informed to make this decision,” Silverstein said. “And while a specific (board) resolution would have been preferable, the evidence is clear that debtors approved the transaction.”
“A court is particularly ill-suited to address strategic business decisions such as this one,” the judge added. “Debtors may ultimately may be wrong in their assessment, but that is not the test of business judgment.”
By RANDALL CHASE
