NH Chapter of Boy Scouts to Continue State Operations

By Alex LaCasse
SeaCoastOnline
February 20, 2020

https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20200220/nh-chapter-of-boy-scouts-to-continue-state-operations

CONCORD -- The Daniel Webster Council responded to Tuesday’s news the Boy Scouts of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by stating the move would have no effect on the programming offered to scouts across New Hampshire.

Daniel Webster Council (DWC) Scout Executive Jay Garee said the council would continue to provide “programming, financial, facility and administrative support to local units and individual scouts in New Hampshire,” in wake of BSA filing for bankruptcy.

“Daniel Webster Council... has not filed for bankruptcy,” Garee said. “Meetings and activities, district and council events, other scouting adventures and countless service projects are taking place as usual. In short, there is no change to the local scouting experience.”

However, BSA’s decision to file for bankruptcy casts the public spotlight on the more than 290 outstanding lawsuits against the organization, the vast majority filed by individuals claiming they were molested by scout volunteer leaders.

BSA officials said the decision to file for bankruptcy would pave the way to setting up a trust for victims of abuse to claim damages, similar to individual Catholic dioceses filing for bankruptcy protection in response to allegations of sexual abuse within their ranks.

“The BSA cannot undo what happened to you, but we are committed to supporting you and to doing everything in our power to prevent it from happening to others. It is a social and moral responsibility that I and the entire organization take extremely seriously,” Jim Turley, national chair of BSA, wrote in an open letter to victims, which ran as a full-page ad in Wednesday’s USA Today. “We believe that all victims should receive our support and compensation - and we have taken decisive action to make that possible.”

Mitchell Garabedian, whose Boston law firm represents victims of sexual abuse, is one of the 25 lawyers with the most outstanding lawsuits against BSA seeking damages for victims alleging they were molested during their time in scouting. He said BSA filed for bankruptcy in response to several states adopting legislation eliminating statutes of limitations with respect to victims of sexual assault pursuing civil damages, such as New York and New Jersey.

“Going into bankruptcy will still allow victims to obtain validation through a financial settlement and forcing the Boy Scouts to open their so-called ‘perversion files,’” Garabedian said, adding he represents victims of sexual abuse in more than a dozen cases against BSA. “In those perversion files, they detail who knew (about predatory scout leaders and volunteers) and when they knew it.”

In one lawsuit filed by six John Does against BSA and DWC last May, the defendants are now split between federal district court and Rockingham Superior Court. On Tuesday, BSA filed a notice of removal in Rockingham Superior Court, citing federal bankruptcy law, to extricate itself from the suit filed by the anonymous former scouts.

In the Does’ lawsuit, they allege BSA and DWC were aware of the predatory behavior of Eugene Perreault and failed to take action while the men were scouts. Perreault is a former scout leader in Newfields and Epping and is currently serving a 12- to 30-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to 17 sexual assault charges in 2018. It is unknown if the victims who participated in the criminal investigation of Perreault are also parties in the civil suit.

The bankruptcy filing blurs the line between the national organization and state-level councils. DWC, like the other individual state-level councils administering scout troops within their respective states, are separately chartered nonprofit organizations from BSA. According to court filings and the organization’s 2019 tax return, BSA holds approximately $1.4 billion worth of assets, including land and other facilities.

Garabedian said individual councils could petition the bankruptcy judge to join BSA’s filing with a “channeling injunction” and their assets would be subject to being collateralized to pay into BSA’s victims’ compensation trust. He said he anticipates “hundreds upon hundreds” of more victims to come forward now that BSA has filed for bankruptcy and encouraged all of them to file a claim before the judge sets a deadline to do so.

“Litigation will continue against the state councils in the (superior) courts,” Garabedian said. “Filing for bankruptcy stops civil litigation (against BSA), but it does not stop litigation against the (state) councils as separate corporations.”