Bankruptcy Filing Probably Means Less Compensation for Scout Victims Who ‘wanted Their Day in Court,’ Attorney Says
By LaVendrick Smith and Catherine Marfin
By Tuesday afternoon, Paul Mones said his inbox had at least 400 new emails, many of them from men who were upset they’ll never see their day in court. Mones represents hundreds of men nationwide who say they were sexually abused as children in the Boy Scouts of America. The Irving-based organization filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday as it’s facing a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits. The move puts those clients’ cases on hold and forces victims to seek compensation through a claims system. “A lot of them are very angry,” Mones said of his clients. “A lot of them are feeling resentful that the Boy Scouts didn’t take care of the problem when they were a viable organization when they could have. And now they’re left to file in a cold and calculated climate.” The bankruptcy filing comes after years of sexual abuse accusations against BSA and declining membership. The organization said that by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and establishing a trust for payments, it will “ensure that victims of past abuse in Scouting are equitably compensated." “We are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to harm innocent children,” BSA president and chief executive Roger Mosby said in a news release. Since the 1920s, more than 12,000 boys have reported sexual abuse, according to court documents. The organization is expecting between 1,000 and 5,000 victims to seek compensation, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. Mones said Tuesday that the filing means victims probably will receive less money than they would’ve through lawsuits. “That’s not the way a lot of these men thought it would end, in terms of the judicial process,” he said. “They wanted their day in court, and they’re not going to get it.” He said the organization’s path toward bankruptcy began in 2010 with a case he tried against BSA in Portland on behalf of a man who was abused in the 1980s. A jury awarded $18.5 million in punitive damages against the Scouts in that case. The case also led to the public release of documents called the “perversion files,” which detailed allegations of abuse by Scout leaders. The lawsuits mounted in recent years as states changed statute-of-limitation laws, allowing for more victims to come forward. The organization’s acknowledgement of the sexual abuse came after a history of trying to conceal the problem, Mones said. “They didn’t do it voluntarily, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “They were brought kicking and screaming into this world of acceptance of their problems of sexual abuse.” Michelle Simpson Tuegel, a Dallas attorney, said filing for bankruptcy isn’t unusual in these kinds of cases. She represents victims who were abused by convicted former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, and she said the move is reminiscent of USA Gymnastics’ filing for bankruptcy in 2018. Simpson Tuegel also represents men who say they were abused in the Boy Scouts. Although bankruptcy isn’t the result those victims want, she said, the process is not over. “We still have an ability to submit your claim through the bankruptcy process, and you could still receive compensation, and I think they will,” she said. “It is not the end. A lot of times, people see bankruptcy and they think, ‘There’s nothing left, I have no rights, none of this matters,' and that is not at all the case.” Local troops shouldn’t be affected, leaders say Although it’s possible the bankruptcy filing could eventually lead to the end of the Boy Scouts of America, the organization has a chance to emerge more financially stable after settling with victims. Boy Scouts leaders have emphasized local operations will not be affected. In North Texas, troops are overseen by the Circle Ten Council, which provides financial and administrative support to more than 800 scouting units in 24 counties. Sam Thompson, the council’s scout executive and CEO, said the council’s properties, camps and other contributions aren’t controlled by the national organization and won’t be affected by the filing. “Meetings and activities, district and council events, other Scouting adventures and countless service projects are taking place as usual,” Thompson said in a written statement. “In short, there should be no change to the local Scouting experience.” Shannon Kaye said she would be “devastated” if the Boy Scouts can’t recover from the bankruptcy filing. Her son Ethan became an Eagle Scout in 2017. “I can’t tell you how much that whole process just made my son blossom and become the person that he is today,” she said. Kaye said she never felt uncomfortable about her son being a member of the organization, despite news of the abuse cases. “I was always grateful that was not my fear,” she said. “I was in a very solid, comforting scouting society here in my neighborhood, with solid people.” Today, mandatory background checks and training are among the requirements for all adult leaders in an effort to prevent abuse. According to the Boy Scouts, the majority of the sex abuse cases took place several decades ago, before those policies were implemented. In Old East Dallas, parents of Pack 325 Cub Scouts are reassured by the preventive measures, said Wesley Alost, the pack’s cubmaster. “Once people come to a school night for a scouting event, or meet with unit leaders, we explain to them the barriers to abuse that BSA has put into effect,” he said. “People seem very comfortable with it, and they should be.” He said the parents in his pack are mostly worried about the survival of their children’s group. “They want to be sure that the program is going to continue,” he said. “The knee-jerk reaction is, ‘Oh my gosh, my scouting program is going to go away.'"
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.