Boy Scouts tort claimants committee balks at proposed settlements

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., Dec. 15 – Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) official tort claimants' committee said it does not support the BSA’s proposed $800 million settlement with Century and Chubb insurance companies and other previously announced settlements with Hartford Insurance Co., for $787 million, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for $250 million.

The committee, which is represented by Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP, said in a Wednesday press release that it views the settlement as grossly unfair to the 82,500 survivors who were sexually abused as children.

“The TCC was appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee as the official representative for all survivors of childhood sexual abuse and it will not support settlements that do not deliver the justice survivors deserve,” the committee said in the release.

The committee said that Century and Chubb are not paying reasonable compensation for the broad releases of the sexual abuse claims. Taken together, all of the settlements announced by the Boy Scouts yield an average of about $28,000 for filed child sex abuse claims.

The average will be further reduced by the about $5 billion in estimated “future claims” asserted by the future claims representative.

In comparison, survivors under the recently confirmed plan for USA Gymnastics will receive an average of approximately $800,000.

“The Boy Scouts touts this settlement and the settlements with the Hartford and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as ‘historically high,’” Doug Kennedy, co-chair of the committee, said.

“When considered from the perspective of the individual abuse survivor, these are ‘historically low’ and the USA Gymnastics settlement underscores how pathetically low these amounts actually are.”

The committee said it originally supported a restructuring settlement agreement for a consensual plan because the BSA and the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice confirmed that the primary value for survivors would be recovered through the billions of dollars in available insurance coverage.

“Over the past several months, the BSA and the coalition have changed their course and are now seeking a quick exit from the bankruptcy case by entering into settlements, most recently with Century and Chubb, that fail to capture the billions of dollars owed to the sexual abuse survivors,” the committee said.

Boy Scouts of America is based in Irving, Tex. It filed bankruptcy on Feb. 17, 2020 under Chapter 11 case number 20-10343.

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